Hamartia
by Jen Kollic
Summary: It was only a matter of time until Hordak decided that Entrapta was a liability. Being his lieutenant means that Catra has to do his dirty work. Unfortunately Scorpia has some objections. Warnings for blood and violence. Alternatively: how Scorpia and Entrapta (re)joined the Great Rebellion.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The throne room was almost empty, as always. Catra had never once seen Lord Hordak fight – she had rarely even seen him stand – but for whatever reason he felt no need for guards. Perhaps it was just for intimidation, the cold implication that he could destroy whoever stood before him in a heartbeat without any assistance. Of course, Catra was quite sure that those had been Shadow Weaver's tactics as well, and the witch had gone down like a crippled bird in the end. But she doubted that the same would go for Hordak - even with Scorpia, a full squad of troopers and a battalion of Entrapta's modified combat drones behind her. In the end, Shadow Weaver had never been the power behind the throne. Both power and throne belonged only to Hordak.

Approaching the raised dais, Catra bowed smoothly then straightened up. She repressed an involuntary shudder as blank white eyes glowed at her from one of the throne's arms – it was only Imp, but those eyes were too much like those of Shadow Weaver's mask. She wondered why the little spy was here, though she guessed that it was part of the reason she'd been summoned. That suggested a disciplinary matter then, hardly what Catra would consider worth her time.

"Lieutenant." The single word was the first acknowledgement of her presence that Hordak had given her. The Horde leader sat in his customary slouch, as if he was already bored by the interview that had barely begun.

"Lord Hordak," Catra replied with a deferential dip of her head. "I serve at your command. What are your orders?"

For a moment, red eyes watched her impassively as if Hordak was weighing her up. Catra held his gaze, albeit without the resentful defiance she had once shown Shadow Weaver. The Horde leader demanded respect, but his second in command was not expected to grovel.

"It has come to my attention that the princess of Dryl has become a liability," Hordak said finally, with as much emotion as he might have discussed the weather. "You are to dispose of her."

Despite herself, Catra flinched as if her tail had been caught in a door jamb. For a moment she wondered if she had heard him correctly. "Lord Hordak you… you want me to get rid of Princess Entrapta?"

"I want you to kill her, Lieutenant," he replied dispassionately. "I cannot risk her falling back into the hands of the Rebellion."

"But…" Catra looked away as her mind raced, trying not to listen to the little voice that told her yet again that she should have left with Adora when she had the chance. Catra hated that little voice even more than she hated Shadow Weaver. Gathering her composure, she started again. "Lord Hordak, I don't understand. How could the Rebellion get their hands on her when she's here?"

Rather than respond, Hordak looked at Imp instead. The small creature smirked at Catra, then tipped its head back as its jaw dropped open.

"Fright Zone log, day 73," Catra felt her hackles rise as Entrapta's voice came from Imp's wide, motionless mouth. "I should really head back to Dryl and pick up some tools, maybe check on the robots? Ooo, I could bring some back here so Emily can have some friends! And I could also tell the other princesses that they suck for leaving me here, though it worked out for the best. Maybe? Probably. Eh, it's on them anyway." As Imp fell silent, Hordak extended one long-nailed finger to scratch the creature's head, and it made a soft chirruping sound of appreciation.

"Do you know why the Rebellion has never attempted to retrieve Princess Entrapta?" Hordak asked, his tone making it clear that the question was rhetorical.

"No, Lord Hordak," Catra replied, truthfully. "I thought – I guessed anyway – that she wasn't as important to them as Princess Glimmer and Bow."

"They believe that she is dead," Hordak continued. "Otherwise they would certainly have attempted to rescue her. If they were to find out she is alive, it would invite direct retaliation just as the abduction of the princess of Brightmoon did. If she is actually dead then we will have no such tiresome problems. And the Princess Entrapta knows far too much about our technology to be permitted to leave here alive in any case."

"Then we can stop her from leaving." It took a conscious effort for Catra to keep the desperation from her voice. 'I don't want to' had never been an acceptable excuse for Shadow Weaver, and Catra knew it would be even less effective now. "We can put her back in a cell."

"And you are certain that would contain her, Lieutenant?" This time Hordak's question sounded genuine, and Catra almost gave an affirmative response… until her mismatched eyes fell back on Imp. The little spy was smiling at her – encouragingly even - its blank eyes gleaming. And Catra remembered that she'd spoken to Scorpia about the futility of keeping Entrapta confined. More than once. If she said yes now, Catra was willing to bet that the next stolen words out of Imp's mouth would be her own complaining that Entrapta was loose yet again.

"No, Lord Hordak," Catra admitted eventually. The cold dread in the pit of her stomach removed any satisfaction she might have felt at the disappointed look on Imp's face. "But I know Entrapta can still be useful to the Horde! I can talk to her; I can make sure she stays…" She fell silent as Hordak made an impatient gesture towards Imp and the creature opened its mouth once more.

"But my lord, I can assure you that recovering Adora will be of critical importance," Even now, when the witch was powerless and helpless in a cell, Shadow Weaver's voice made Catra's tail bush. "Once we have her back I can alter her mind to ensure her loyalty-" Imp's recording cut off suddenly – no doubt at the point where Hordak had interrupted the sorceress. Feeling cold sweat prickle along her spine, Catra forced herself to meet his gaze. There was no disapproval there – yet – merely cold indifference. That was worse.

"I trust you are aware just how much you currently sound like your predecessor, Lieutenant." Hordak stated, a faint edge of irritation creeping into his voice. "Do not make me regret my choice of successor. I made you my second in command not only because you have produced satisfactory results so far, but also because I believed you had the strength and discipline to obey my commands without question. Do you understand?"

Taking a deep breath, Catra exhaled slowly through her nose. Hordak was right. She had made her choice long ago, when she had walked away from the chasm in the First Ones temple after throwing that damned sword into it. Adora's pleading voice hadn't changed things then, and Entrapta wasn't Adora. "Yes, Lord Hordak," she replied, this time with no hesitation.

"Good." Hordak acknowledged with a slight nod. "I am aware that Force Captain Scorpia may cause problems," he continued. "I no longer need her to keep her family in line but she is still a resource worth keeping. I would prefer this to be done in such a way that does not compromise her loyalty."

"Understood, my lord. I'm sure I can arrange that." Sensing that the briefing had reached its end, Catra bowed.

"See that you do," Hordak flicked a hand towards the door as he spoke. "Dismissed, Lieutenant."

Turning quickly, Catra left the room. She wanted to run, but both pride and the knowledge that Hordak was watching made her walk with a dignified – if rapid – stride. But instead of heading back to her chambers – Shadow Weaver's former abode – Catra kept going until she came out onto the balcony where she had once found Adora wearing a new Force Captain insignia. It seemed a hundred years ago now.

Closing the door behind her, Catra moved to stand at the handrail and gaze out at the indistinct blur that was the horizon. Planting both elbows on the rail, she buried her head in her hands as she tried to clear her mind and think objectively.

 _'You should have left with Adora,'_ the hated little voice whispered. If it had possessed a neck, Catra would have wrung it.

 **oOo**

The small navigator's cabin in the raiding ship was cramped, but given that Catra had sent the four troopers she'd brought with her to wait below decks until the alarm was sounded, it was the only place she could get some privacy. So far things had not gone exactly to plan, and that worried her.

 _"If you're going back to that First Ones temple, then I'm coming too," Scorpia said stubbornly, claws crossed over her chest. "I saw what it did to you last time."_

 _"It'll be fine," Catra snapped back, feigning outrage. "I handled it before, I can handle it now. Besides, I'll have a squad of troopers and Entrapta. I'm pretty sure she can deal with the tech."_

 _"What if she makes it worse and everything tries to kill you even harder?" Scorpia countered. "Like that time she turned all her tech in Dryl evil."_

 _"That is a possibility," Entrapta put in from where she was swinging on her hair, apparently taking no offence from the implication that she might kill them all. "Given that the entire facility is First Ones tech, it would be a lot more lethal than the situation was in Dryl. I guess I better leave Emily here just in case."_

 _Catra sighed heavily, knowing that she was beaten. If she insisted that Scorpia stay behind – given that she had no good reason to do so – it would only make her suspicious when she came back without Entrapta. "Fine," she growled eventually. "But you better do_ _ **exactly**_ _what I say."_

So now here she was, hunched over a desk as the ship – one of the ones Entrapta had optimised for greater speed and stealth – sped towards what was left of the Whispering Woods. Laid out in front of her were three objects – a long, thin-bladed knife, a tightly sealed ceramic vial and one of Adora's archer friend's arrows. A proper one, not a stupid trick one. If she did this right then nobody would ever know the truth. Nobody but Catra herself, and she could live with it. She would have to.

Lifting the vial – which was marked with multiple hazard symbols – Catra put one thumb against the cap but hesitated just before opening it as the doubts returned. She already knew that what she'd planned wasn't the right thing to do, not by a long shot. But as far as her own welfare and authority was concerned, it was the sensible thing to do. And Catra didn't have a choice, at least not if she wanted to go back to the Horde anyway.

Of course, she could always keep going. Through the Whispering Woods and on to Brightmoon where she could surrender to the Rebellion. Even after the battle, Catra was sure that Adora would still plead her case to their queen. Adora was just like that. She would probably even be happy to see her. The claws of Catra's free hand gouged into the desk at the thought, digging up long splinters of wood instead of flaying skin. Of course Adora would be expecting her to come crawling back, wasn't that what pets were supposed to do?

The metallic clink as her other hand slapped down against the desk with the vial under it snapped Catra back to the present with a jump. The ceramic it was made of was the same material that was used for ballistic armour, so it certainly wouldn't break that easily. But the thought of its contents gave Catra pause. Even knocking the lid off could be hazardous – back in the Fright Zone she had foolishly given it a curious sniff and had been unable to smell anything for hours afterwards as the sensitive membranes in her nose burned.

The vial held enough powerful neurotoxin to kill everyone on the ship three times over in a matter of minutes. A thin coating on the tip of the slender dagger would work in seconds if said dagger was plunged into someone's back. They would most likely be dead – with very little pain, probably before they even knew what hit them – before they hit the ground. Then it would simply be a case of replacing the dagger with Bow's arrow, and as far as anyone need know Entrapta had been killed by the Rebellion.

Taking a deep breath, Catra exhaled slowly, nervously rolling the vial under one finger like a fidget toy. Once they reached the Whispering Woods it would be easy enough to claim that the arrow had been shot from the cover of the trees. And it would be perfectly feasible for Catra and her squad to be unable to find a single shooter who knew the woods like the back of their hand. With any luck they might even encounter some rebels – Catra was sure that Scorpia would be out for blood after this. So much the better, Catra knew that the Force Captain was fond of Entrapta and seeing her dead at the hands of the Rebellion would only strengthen her loyalty to the Horde. Hopefully that would mean Catra would never be asked to deal with Scorpia as well.

This was for the best. Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she might start believing it.

The sound of footsteps outside nearing the cabin made Catra jump, the vial shooting out from under her finger and ricocheting back off the wall to hit her chest then fall to the floor. Kicking it into a dark corner, Catra hid the arrow in her shirt and turned to face the door as it opened. It would be either Scorpia or Entrapta, and both of them would have questions if they saw her with a vial of neurotoxin. The fact that most of the outside light was blotted out by the figure in the doorway confirmed that it was the former.

"That's us nearing the woods," Scorpia had to stoop slightly to enter the cabin, her head brushing the ceiling as she straightened up. "We'll be there in five minutes." She paused as she looked at Catra, her expression concerned. "Hey, are you okay? You look rough, is it the speed the ship's going? Took me a while to get used to it too."

"No," Catra replied, more sharply than she'd intended. _go away Scorpia go away Scorpia go away Scorpia go away_ "I was just thinking about what… what happened in the temple last time," she lied. "It messes with your head. Makes you question what you're doing."

"Hey, I'm sure we can handle it together," Scorpia said reassuringly, one claw twitching as if she was about to pat Catra on the shoulder before remembering the personal space rule. "Besides, we've got Entrapta this time; she's good with this stuff."

"Unless she makes it worse and everything tries to kill us even harder?" Catra reminded her with a sardonic grin.

"Well yeah," the Force Captain admitted, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. "But let's try and stay positive."

"Let's also try not to get snuck up on by rebels," Despite all of Catra's doubts, her next words came out smoothly, without so much as a quiver to give her away. "Can you go to the stern and keep watch for anyone trying to sneak up behind us? They know we'd be expecting them to attack from the woods so they might try to surprise us." The stern was a good eighty feet from the prow of the ship, with the engine room and generator block between them. There was no way Scorpia would be able to see what was happening at the front of the ship. Not until Catra called her anyway.

"No problem Catra, if they try it we'll be ready for them." Ducking under the doorframe, Scorpia turned and headed towards the stern. Catra waited for her footsteps to fade, staring out across the starboard rail that the cabin faced. She could see the dark line of the Whispering Woods arcing away into the distance. She hated those woods. If she had just listened to Adora when they'd rode the stolen skiff out here and turned back to the Fright Zone instead of going in…

Slamming the door closed, Catra turned back to the desk and the knife. This was where not listening to Adora had gotten her. She couldn't stop now.

Moments later the door opened again and Catra stepped out, turning towards the prow. The knife was in a hidden sheath at her belt, the arrow was tucked inside her shirt. As she'd expected, Entrapta was leaning precariously over the handrail by the bowsprit, anchored in place by her hair as she spoke excitedly into her voice recorder.

"…seems to be regrowing at an exponential rate. I should really have researched the Whispering Woods more, I knew that they protected Brightmoon but knowing that there's an entire First Ones temple in there suggests that was unintentional – the woods' true purpose is to protect the temple, not Brightmoon. And the fact that the woods moved – or at least used to – suggests that there is some sort of gestalt consciousness controlling them, most likely from the temple itself. This is going to be fascinating!" The princess didn't notice as Catra padded up behind her, tail switching in agitation as her ears flattened back against her skull.

 _"I know you're not a bad person Catra, you don't belong with the Horde!"_

With a low snarl, Catra lunged forwards, locking one arm around Entrapta's neck in a chokehold to cut off her cry of shock and pulling her close. In a single quick movement she drew the knife, thrust it into Entrapta's back below the girl's right shoulderblade then twisted it sharply and pulled it out. It was back at her belt in less than five seconds as Catra felt Entrapta stiffen against her with a strangled gasp, her recorder falling to the deck. Slackening her grip for a moment to retrieve the arrow from her shirt, Catra waited for Entrapta's breathing to stop as the venom took effect.

Instead, the technician's hair slid between them and shoved her away with surprising force as Entrapta stumbled free with a shriek of pain. Catra stared at the princess in equal shock – her vocal chords should have been paralysed by the venom. All of her should have been paralysed by the venom! The neurotoxin…

…was still in its vial in the dark corner that Catra had kicked it into. She'd forgotten it.

Shit.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again... While I do think Catra could easily have a Zuko-style redemption arc, I also think she could end up going full Azula and turning on her only friends. Doesn't mean she has to be happy about it though. And thanks to Rinney for once again proof-reading and not complaining when bombarded with bits of random fanfiction at odd hours of the morning/night._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

For several seconds, all Catra and Entrapta could do was stare at each other. The princess had staggered back against the railing after pushing Catra away, holding on to it with both one arm and her hair. Her other hand was raised in front of herself defensively, while one ponytail was pressed to her back. Splitting a length of it away and bringing it around to look at it, Entrapta started in shock as she saw the blood on the end – threads of scarlet spreading rapidly as it wicked through her hair. Catra had never seen the technician look so bewildered, and the blank incomprehension in her crimson eyes cut more than anger or betrayal would have done.

"I… you… I… I don't understand," Entrapta stammered, then doubled over as she began to cough, her breath rasping in her chest.

Kicking Entrapta's legs out from under her was easy - although her hair lashed out at Catra with surprising strength, it had little coordination and was easily dodged. _Don't think about it. Just do it. It'll be over soon._ Hauling the princess over onto her stomach and trapping both ponytails beneath her body, Catra pinned her down with a knee against the small of her back. She flinched as she saw the red stain spreading across Entrapta's back. _Don't think about it. You don't have a choice. You'll feel better once it's done._ That was true. Entrapta was an enemy combatant now. Just like Adora.

Catra still had the arrow in one hand. There wasn't time to go back for the neurotoxin, and stabbing Entrapta again was a bad idea because even Scorpia would be suspicious if there were multiple wounds but only one arrow. She would just have to stab the arrow into the knife wound as she'd originally planned, then twist it around until she hit something more vital; a major artery would do. Seeing a flicker of movement from the corner of one eye, Catra looked up only to immediately regret it as a lock of purple hair that had pulled its way free lashed at her like a whip, searing across her cheekbone and eyesocket like a friction burn. Recoiling with a hiss, Catra felt Entrapta struggling out from beneath her. Half blinded, she drew back one fist and punched the princess in what she hoped was the centre of the bloodstain. From her shriek of pain, Catra guessed she wasn't far off. _See? You can do some things right. Fuck Shadow Weaver._

Raising the arrow over her head as Entrapta's scream broke off into a racking cough, Catra paused as her hand trembled. She told herself that her uninjured eye was just watering in sympathy with the other. Scraping the back of her fist across her eyes to clear them, Catra raised the arrow again…

…then suddenly went flying as something caught her by the shirt and threw her off Entrapta and into the bridge. Catra had been so focused on the task at hand that she hadn't even heard Scorpia's footsteps approaching.

"What the hell is going on?!" Looking from Catra to Entrapta and back again, Scorpia seemed almost as confused as Entrapta had been. "What did you _do_ Catra?"

For a moment Catra considered telling her that she'd just pulled the arrow out of Entrapta's back. But Entrapta was hardly likely to corroborate that story, and the only blood on the arrow was where Catra was holding it. "Following Lord Hordak's orders," she replied as she slowly pushed herself to her feet. There was an alarm button by the door into the bridge, and Catra inched gradually towards it.

"What, Lord Hordak told you to hurt Entrapta? Somehow I doubt that," Scorpia shot back with a disbelieving snort. Behind her, Entrapta struggled to her hands and knees and made an effort to stand. The technician made it halfway up with help from her hair only to gasp in pain as she straightened and slump back to the ground.

"No," Catra stated flatly. "He ordered me to kill her." She held Scorpia's gaze as she spoke, and saw her disbelief slowly dawn into horror.

"But… but that doesn't make sense!" Despite her words, Scorpia knew that Catra was telling the truth. She could see it in her eyes. "Entrapta's done nothing but help us!"

"I know." Catra's sigh was genuine. "But Lord Hordak has decided that she's more of a liability than she's useful, and Lord Hordak's will is law. You of all people should know that, Scorpia. You've been in the Horde since the beginning."

Looking away, Scorpia shifted her weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Entrapta's still our friend. Couldn't you just have let her go instead? Hordak doesn't have to know, you can tell him she's dead and I'll back you up! Wouldn't that be-"

"No!" Catra hadn't intended to shout the word, but somehow she still did. "You think he wouldn't find out? The moment the Rebellion finds out that she's still alive they'll want her back, and the moment Lord Hordak finds out that she's working with them again, we'll lose our heads!"

That thought gave Scorpia pause for a few moments as Entrapta pushed herself back to her knees and raised her head. "…they… they think I'm dead?" the technician asked hoarsely. Catra ignored her, her gaze fixed on Scorpia instead. The Force Captain was staring down at the deck, her claws slowly rubbing back and forth as she chewed her lip. Her tail switched back and forth behind her, the sting flicking in front of Entrapta's eyes.

"We could say the Rebellion captured her then," Scorpia said eventually. "That they attacked us before we reached the woods and took her, and we couldn't get her back. Tell him She-Ra did it, it wouldn't be the first time Adora-"

"NO!" Catra's shout was even louder this time. "Scorpia, no. We don't have a choice – we have to do this! I know how you feel – really. Like there's something cold clawing at your guts. Like you're the biggest piece of shit in Etheria. But it gets better." She let out a long, shuddering breath as the memory of blue eyes opened wide in shock and disbelief seared through her. "Once it's done, it gets better." _Oh, it's definitely better isn't it? No regrets at all, you feel fantastic, no problems sleeping or anything._ "You never liked the other princesses anyway."

Scorpia's shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh, giving Catra momentary hope that maybe things would work out after all. But then the taller woman shook her head. "I said they didn't like _me_ ," Scorpia said slowly. "And I won't let you kill Entrapta," she added, her tail stiffening into a threatening arch behind her as her claws stopped their nervous fidgeting and opened wide. "Either you let her go, or you kill me too. Well, try to I mean."

Catra drew herself up to her full height, telling herself that this was insubordination – she was Hordak's lieutenant, she outranked Scorpia now. And she was within arm's reach of the alarm. "What, let her go so she can bleed out alone in the Whispering Woods?" she asked scornfully. She'd accepted that the fight was now inevitable, but an angry Scorpia was more inclined to make tactical errors. "I knew you'd be stupid about this, but I didn't think you'd be _that_ stupid. You sure you don't want her to die if that's your genius plan?"

Scorpia's response was a wordless yell of fury as she sprang at Catra – just as she'd anticipated. Dodging to one side, Catra hammered one fist against the alarm button as Scorpia's claws gouged into the metal wall where she'd been standing seconds ago. Catra was pretty sure that four troopers wouldn't do too well against Scorpia, but at least she'd specifically chosen experienced soldiers for this mission instead of Lani and the Awkward Squad.

As Scorpia turned, Catra was already springing forwards to attack. And Scorpia wasn't her target – Scorpia was a problem for Future Catra. Instead she was lunging for Entrapta who was still half-prone, one hand reaching for her with claws extended, the other still holding the arrow which was aimed to plunge through the technician's throat. Entrapta began to scramble away as she saw Catra coming, but not nearly fast enough. The princess squealed as Catra's claws sank into her shoulder to restrain her, wide eyes reflecting the gleam of the arrowhead… which was suddenly eclipsed by a large, jagged shadow as a chitinous claw snapped forwards to seize Catra's upper arm.

For all Scorpia's size and weight, she could put on a fair turn of speed when her blood was up. She heard the alarm but ignored it, kicking herself back from the wall and using the momentum to pivot fast enough to grab Catra's arm as it came down. Despite everything, she still felt a twinge of guilt as she hurled Catra to one side with a precise turn and flick of her claw – and a sharp crack of bone.

Slamming into the forward rail was the only thing that stopped Catra from hurtling off the ship entirely. She managed to turn enough in midair to hit the rail feet-first, but fumbled her landing and fell to the deck instead of springing back towards Scorpia. And as she tried to push herself up, the first thing she noticed was that her right arm now had two elbows. Her upper arm had been cleanly broken halfway between shoulder and forearm and was twisted at an unnatural angle. Strangely it didn't hurt – yet – it just felt numb and cold. More importantly, she was no longer holding the arrow.

Scorpia took a few steps towards her, ignoring the sound of troopers rushing up from the lower deck. Unless Catra had managed to sneak another five or six squads on board without Scorpia noticing – unlikely given that they'd have been packed like sardines in the confined space below deck – she was more concerned about getting to the cover of the Whispering Woods without being blasted by the ship's cannons.

"If we hadn't been friends," Scorpia began, holding Catra's furious glare with her own. "That would have been your neck." Not waiting for a response, Scorpia turned to see the first troopers coming around the bridge. But worse still was that Entrapta had vanished. "Ah, gonopores!" Scorpia cursed, then charged. Catra didn't even get a chance to shout at the troopers to attack before Scorpia barrelled into them like a hovertank.

The fight actually went somewhat better than Catra had expected – probably because Scorpia was trying to subdue her erstwhile comrades instead of killing them - lasting minutes instead of seconds. More than enough time for her to get back to her feet, her broken arm hanging awkwardly at her side. The pain was starting to hit now, a dull throb that seemed to seep through the limb with glacial slowness. It spiked into sharp shards of mirror-bright intensity as Catra tried to flex her hand, her claws refusing to extend as her fingers contorted awkwardly. But her left arm was fine, and she'd always been just as dextrous with her left hand as she was with her right. Maybe she wouldn't be able to take Scorpia with only one good arm, but Entrapta was another story, and Catra had also noticed that the technician was gone. Furthermore, she had also noticed the spots and streaks of blood leading to the generator room – that was a trail even Scorpia could follow.

As Scorpia took a blow from a shock baton to the back of the head – enough to knock her down but certainly not out – Catra considered her options. She was still fast enough to make it to the generator room before Scorpia could stop her. Entrapta wouldn't be a threat, at this point the princess would have lost enough blood that it would be a miracle if she could even stand. Of course, Scorpia would probably catch up with her while she was still in there, and in that confined space Catra's agility wouldn't count for much. No doubt the Force Captain would follow up on her neck breaking threat.

The other option was to attack Scorpia – who had just used her tail to trip the soldier who'd hit her, then jabbed her stinger into the back of their knee as they fell – and try to take her out first. Catra knew that one set of claws probably wouldn't achieve much, but she still had her knife... _that is a stupid, stupid plan, you go for Scorpia with one arm and a knife and you'll end up with no arms and no knife then she'll probably bail with Entrapta. But hey you'll have a nice big slice of failure, have you been missing that since Adora left?_ As Scorpia rolled back to her feet and smashed the side of the last trooper's helmet with one claw, Catra made her choice. Drawing the knife, she lunged at Scorpia with a furious yowl.

The Force Captain sidestepped, one claw catching Catra's knife, which did nothing but graze the thick chitin. Rather than disarm her, Scorpia pulled her closer instead as her stinger darted around like a viper and sank into Catra's hip. For a moment, blue and yellow eyes glared at her, then closed as Catra toppled stiffly to the deck. As an afterthought, Scorpia went back to sting the other three troopers as well. Her venom was going to need some time to replenish after this day's work.

"Entrapta?" Scorpia called, hoping the technician would emerge from her hiding place. Both Catra and the troopers had enough venom in them to keep them out for a while, but all of them would have had access to the antiserum – anyone who sparred with Scorpia would get a dose before a training session so that they'd still be fit for duty afterwards. Without taking the time to check the identity of every trooper – and assuming she'd remember them – there was a good chance that any of them could be back on their feet in a few minutes. And Catra… well, she'd never sparred with Scorpia, but if she'd been planning this then it would make sense for her to have taken a shot of the antiserum before they headed out.

There was no response, but as Catra had feared it didn't take Scorpia long to notice the red spots and smears leading to the generator room. Heading over at a run, she looked inside with more than a little trepidation in case something exploded the minute she stuck her head through the open door. In this situation she could hardly have blamed Entrapta for rigging the place to explode. But all Scorpia was met with was the low, pervasive hum of the power banks. And the sound of a stifled cough.

"Entrapta? It's me," Scorpia announced, warily stepping into the dimly lit room and keeping an eye out for tripwires. "Whatever Catra had planned, I didn't know about it, I swear. But we need to get out of here, fast. You need to trust me."

The ship's two generators were placed on the rear two corners of the room, a good few feet of space around them on every side –including underneath – to prevent overheating. A line of power banks reaching from floor to ceiling ran between and beyond them, glowing with dim green phosphorescence. Hearing a faint scrape and shuffle, Scorpia cautiously made her way along the narrow walkway between the left generator and the power banks – she was sure the sound had come from this side.

There was a mass of purple hair wedged into the dark space behind and beneath the generator, a blank black faceplate with two glowing magenta lenses at its centre. It didn't move, though Scorpia could hear hoarse, ragged breathing. Sinking down into a crouch, Scorpia slowly stretched out a claw. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said gently. "Plus, I just broke Catra's arm and I'm pretty sure assaulting a superior officer counts as high treason, so I would really like to get out of here fast."

It was hard enough at the best of times to tell what Entrapta was thinking - and impossible behind the mask. The lenses seemed to study Scorpia's face for a few moments, then shifted to look at the offered claw. Hesitantly, a gloved hand emerged from the enveloping hair and took hold of the spiked pincer, and Scorpia carefully pulled the technician out of her hiding place.

Entrapta's ponytails were both wrapped around her like a comfort blanket, though one of them was matted with congealing blood. She hissed in pain as she emerged from beneath the generator, but didn't try to resist as Scorpia lifted her.

"…does… does Hordak really want me dead?" Entrapta's voice was muffled by the mask but Scorpia didn't try to remove it – if the princess felt safer behind it she wasn't going to take that away from her.

"I don't know, but I guess so," Scorpia replied, turning so that she could shuffle sideways between the generators and power banks while holding Entrapta. "Catra wouldn't have done that otherwise. I think. I'm pretty sure anyway." Emerging from the narrow passage, Scorpia headed for the door then paused. "Is there a way to disable the ship that won't blow us all up?" she asked, remembering her earlier fears about the ship's cannons.

"Killswitch," Entrapta groaned, one ponytail making a halfhearted flick towards the control console. "Put 'em in everything after Dryl. Except Emily. She's friend."

Scorpia looked blankly at the console for a few moments, then noticed the large toggle switch that had been recently welded into it. It was circled with red marker and labelled 'NO' in Entrapta's handwriting. She flicked it with her tail, then was thrown to the floor as the ship simply dropped out of the air and ploughed prow-first into the barren earth of the Badlands. Thankfully, she managed to land on her back.

"I did not know that's what a killswitch does," Scorpia grunted as she got back up and went through the door. "But I'm not complaining." She half walked and half slithered across the canted deck to the handrail, looking cautiously towards the prow as she did so. The prone bodies of Catra and the four troopers had slid forwards against the bowsprit when the ship had crashed, but didn't seem to be moving of their own volition yet. Unless they were just playing possum of course.

Deciding that getting while the getting was good was her best course of action, Scorpia leapt over the rail to the wasteland below, spreading her weight to absorb as much of the impact as possible. Even so, Entrapta still made a pained sound as they hit the ground. Rather than check on her Scorpia immediately started sprinting for the treeline just in case anyone started shooting. The ship's cannons might have been neutralised, but the troopers would still have sidearms. Scorpia cursed for not having taken those off them, and jinked from one side to the other as she ran to throw off the aim of anyone getting ready to fire.

No shots came however, and in less than a minute Scorpia had reached the shadows of the trees with Entrapta and disappeared between the trunks as if the Whispering Woods had opened its mouth and swallowed them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The woods did indeed whisper, echoing with soft noises that sounded almost like words. Scorpia hadn't noticed at first – she'd been too busy running and dodging around trees to pay any attention to the ambiance. But now that she had slowed down, she was uncomfortably aware of the constant susurration of the forest around her. She'd told herself it was just leaves rustling in the breeze, but she had the uneasy feeling that rustling leaves wouldn't sound like muffled speech interspersed with a high-pitched buzz that flickered in and out of hearing range. It was no wonder that she felt like she was being watched.

As she stumbled into a small clearing, Scorpia decided that it was time to stop and check on Entrapta. Since entering the woods, Scorpia had taken a weaving, circuitous route through them – a good way to get lost even if she had been familiar with the forest. But she wasn't, and Scorpia had become hopelessly disorientated as soon as she'd lost sight of the Badlands through the trees. At least that meant that if Catra decided to follow them instead of cutting her losses and heading back to the Fright Zone, then she would have as much chance of finding them as Scorpia did of finding her way out. Unless she followed the blood trail Entrapta was leaving. Or just the damage Scorpia had caused from crashing through the undergrowth.

Fighting down the rising panic, Scorpia reminded herself that she could at least do something about one of those things. Then she could focus on Catra. Sinking into a crouch, she carefully set Entrapta down on the ground and knelt next to her. Scorpia was uncomfortably aware that her left arm and inner elbow were sticky with blood as she shook the technician gently.

"Entrapta? Can you hear me?" There was no response, and with the mask down there was no way to tell if the princess was even conscious. The magenta lenses glowed regardless, their blank stare all the more unsettling when Entrapta was silent and motionless. Sliding the tip of a claw under the lower edge, Scorpia flipped the mask up and back, hoping that Entrapta would react in some way, even if it was angrily. She didn't.

As Scorpia had feared, beneath the featureless mask Entrapta's face was pale, her eyes closed. Scorpia knew she was still alive – she could hear the technician's breaths rasping unsteadily as her chest hitched – but passing out was a bad sign. She didn't have time to try and rouse her though; if Catra was following her she had to get moving again as quickly as possible.

Turning Entrapta onto her side, Scorpia moved her hair from her back – carefully peeling it away where it was stuck with drying blood. The wound itself was easy to find despite being small – scarlet bubbles were slowly forming then bursting around it as Entrapta breathed, accompanied by a hissing whine as air seeped through. Sucking chest wound. Great. With a few deft slices of her claws, Scorpia detached the upper part of Entrapta's overalls and both straps. Folding the thick cloth into a pad, she pressed it firmly against the wound then tied both straps together so that they were long enough to knot around the technician's ribcage and hold the makeshift dressing in place.

Rocking back on her heels, Scorpia took stock of the situation. Last time she'd travelled through the Whispering Woods it had been mostly frozen solid, and she'd been in a hovertank that had simply shattered its way through the brittle trees on the way to Brightmoon. Maybe if she could find the invasion route the Horde had torn through the forest then she could follow it. Although the woods were regrowing with surprising speed, the path the Horde had created had been half a mile wide and absolutely flattened – surely it couldn't have regenerated that much damage already. Then again, did she really want to be out in an open space like that if Catra got the raiding ship up and running again? Chewing her lip, Scorpia reflected that she should maybe have broken the killswitch off after using it – she had no idea how easy it would be to restart the engines, and Entrapta was in no condition to tell her.

And that was assuming Catra stayed with the ship, and didn't come after them on foot. Scorpia knew she'd hear the ship coming well before she saw it, and the same went for the troopers. Catra was another story though – even with a broken arm she was stealthier than Scorpia could ever be. The first sign of her presence would most likely be an ambush. Scorpia would have thought that the broken arm would be enough to make Catra back off… but then again, she also would have thought that Catra would never have turned on her friends regardless of Hordak's orders. If he'd asked Scorpia to kill Entrapta, she'd have saluted then helped the technician escape and pretend that she hadn't been able to stop her. But that was probably why he hadn't asked Scorpia to do it, and why she was in her current situation.

Well, all Scorpia could do now was try to get through the Whispering Woods without Catra catching up with them. Or one of the monsters that were supposed to infest the place finding them. Or rebel scouts that decided to shoot on sight. Assuming none of that happened, then she just had to find her way to Brightmoon… and also hope that they didn't decide to shoot on sight either. And she had to do that soon, before Entrapta bled out.

 _"You sure you don't want her to die if that's your genius plan?"_

The memory of Catra's words stung, made worse by the thought that her former friend might have had a point. Maybe instead of saving Entrapta, Scorpia had killed them both instead. Sure, it was better than letting Catra murder the technician, but not by much. For a second, Scorpia was tempted to just give up and wait in the clearing for something or someone to find and probably kill them. Then she heard a rustle from the trees and immediately snapped out of despondency as she jumped to her feet, claws and tail at the ready as she stood over Entrapta's motionless body.

"If that's you Catra, you won't be walking away from this," Scorpia called in warning. There was no answer except for the soft whisper of the leaves and that odd high-pitched hum. Looking up cautiously, Scorpia slowly turned in a complete circle, searching for the gleam of lambent yellow and blue eyes. Still nothing, though the feeling that she was being watched had increased tenfold. Scorpia's tail tensed behind her, curling tightly so that it was ready to snap out at blinding speed the moment she spotted a target. Something had changed, something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what. Then she realised that the piercing hum had stopped and all she could hear now was the wind in the leaves.

Another rustle – much closer this time – made Scorpia whirl around with claws spread wide, only to find herself facing… glowing butterflies? She watched them in bewilderment for a few moments, wondering if they were what had made the noise. Scorpia was pretty sure that butterflies weren't supposed to make any noise, but she was also pretty sure they shouldn't glow either. Unless they were just a lure for a larger predator of course, and only there to distract her while something else snuck up behind…

"Hello dearie, are you lost?" Jumping at the unfamiliar voice, Scorpia nearly hit herself with her sting as it shot out in a defensive reflex while she turned. Standing a short distance behind her was what first appeared to be a haystack, but a closer look revealed that it was a small, wizened old crone with an untidy mane of white hair that nearly doubled her mass. She was wearing thick spectacles and carrying a broom, and looking at Scorpia without any sign of fear or anger. It was not the reaction Scorpia had come to expect when dealing with civilians. Before she could say anything, the old woman adjusted her spectacles and squinted up at her – maybe she just hadn't realised that Scorpia was part of the Horde. But instead of sudden realisation and panic, the strange woman shrugged instead. "You're much bigger than I remember dearie, but I think I like you better," she said with an emphatic nod.

"Have we met?" Scorpia asked; her confusion only deepening as the old woman shook her head.

"Not in this phase dearie," she replied. "Things are different now. Some better, some worse. But you didn't come here to listen to me talk, eh?"

"I need to get to Brightmoon," Scorpia explained. Trusting strange old ladies she'd met in Rebellion territory didn't seem like the best idea, but it wasn't like she had options. "My friend is hurt, and Brightmoon's probably the best place to take her. Can you show me the way? Please?"

"A Horde captain that says please? Very unusual, yes." The crone moved forwards – with surprising speed for her apparent age – and looked down at Entrapta with her head cocked to one side like a bird. "Mmmm, bad decisions brought you both here I think," she commented, patting Scorpia's arm as if she was concerned about hurting her feelings. "Before the decision that made you bring your friend here that is," she added. "That was a better one."

"Uhhhh…" Scorpia wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I don't know if I'm still a Horde captain," she said eventually. "Well, I'm definitely not a captain any more since I assaulted a superior officer, and I'm pretty sure that means I'm not in the Horde any more either. Well, I could go back I guess but they'd probably execute me. And they'd definitely kill Entrapta since that's kinda why I'm here in the first place."

The old woman nodded in acknowledgement. "Oh, I know that dearie, that's why the Twiggets came to find me, they couldn't decide whether to kill you or not. Sprag said kill you, Sprocker said not kill you, they argued about it for a while. You know how Twiggets are."

"I… what? What's a Twigget?" As she spoke, Scorpia quickly crouched and lifted Entrapta again, shielding the technician's body with her claws. The old lady appeared harmless enough but that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous – and Scorpia didn't like how casually she'd spoken about killing her, even though it hadn't been framed as a threat.

"Don't be silly dearie, you know what Twiggets are!" The old crone didn't seem at all perturbed by Scorpia's sudden defensive stance, or the venomous tail that was starting to curl in her direction. "They live here; they've been here a long, long time. Maybe even before people, but who remembers? They've been watching you since you entered the woods. They don't like the Horde, but you were running away from the Horde - that's why they couldn't decide what to do. And that is also why Madame Razz is here."

"Madame Razz? That's your name?" Scorpia had never heard of her, but then again she didn't know the names of most things that lived in these woods besides 'rebels', 'giant killer beetle things' and 'even bigger giant killer beetle things'. Well, she supposed that she knew about Twiggets now, but she wasn't exactly convinced that they really existed or if the old woman was trying to unnerve her. If they did exist, surely the Horde would know about them by now.

"Yes dearie, that's right!" Madame Razz seemed pleased that Scorpia had noticed. "And I know you are Scorpia, and your friend – she's much smaller than I remember – is Princess Entrapta. Though I'm quite sure neither of you were princesses before. Ah well."

"How…" Scorpia began, then shook her head sharply. She was wasting time – Catra was still out there, Entrapta still needed help. So what if the old woman knew their names? "Look, can you help me or not? Because it's pretty urgent that I get to Brightmoon and the longer I stay here the more chance there is of a squad of Horde troopers finding us."

"Ha! Not with the mood Sprag's in they won't!" The crone's cackle was decidedly ominous. "But yes, dearie, I'll help you. Follow Madame Razz. I'm not so sure of the way, but Broom is so he can lead us." She waved the broom she was carrying in front of her like a divining rod, then nodded and set off through the trees at a remarkably quick pace.

On second thought, Scorpia considered as she followed, maybe the old lady was just crazy after all. But hopefully not too crazy to be able to lead her to Brightmoon. She had to speed up to keep Madame Razz in sight – as well as being fast the crone was more agile than she appeared as well, hopping over rocks and around trees more easily than Scorpia could. Despite her claim that she couldn't remember the path, Madame Razz seemed to know exactly where she was going. She was still holding her broom out in front of herself as if it was guiding her, but Scorpia was certain that it was just a broom.

The temperature dropped as they entered a larger clearing, a rime of frost sparkling on the ground. Flinching at the sudden cold, Scorpia pulled Entrapta closer against herself protectively. "Is the forest still frozen past here?" she asked, shivering.

"No, there's only a few cold spots like this one dearie," Madame Razz replied, showing no sign of discomfort as she continued across the clearing. "In the heart of the forest winter lingers, yes?" She turned to look back at Scorpia, and paused. "Oh, this reminds me of something, what was it now?" The old woman thought for a few moments, then shook her head. "Not quite, you still need two children and a Manchine puppy. But maybe your friend is the Manchine puppy? Eh, never mind." Shrugging, Madame Razz headed onwards.

"Two children and a _what_?" Scorpia muttered as she followed the crone back into the trees. The cold persisted for several minutes, but eventually it grew warmer as the trees around them thawed.

"Nearly there, dearie!" Despite Madame Razz's cheerful words, Scorpia couldn't see any sign of the trees thinning. She tried not to think about the possibility that she was being led into a trap. Or that the old woman was senile and leading her in circles, which seemed equally likely at this point.

"Are you sure?" she asked doubtfully. If they really were nearing Brightmoon, Scorpia would have expected to run into some scouts or sentinels by now. Surely after a major Horde attack the Rebellion would be on its guard.

"Yes, yes," Madame Razz's words floated back as she disappeared between the trees ahead of them. "Good luck!"

"Wait, what?" As she stumbled out into another clearing, Scorpia realised two things in quick succession. Firstly, Madame Razz had gone. Not just out of sight – gone. The grass in the clearing was sheeted with dew, and there were no footprints across it. Secondly, she could hear voices. Familiar ones – and they were coming towards her.

"…feels like a trap." That was Adora. "Horde ships don't just crash in the Badlands for no reason."

"Yeah, if they did it would make our lives much easier." And that was the princess of Brightmoon – Twinkle? Sparkle? Shimmer? Scorpia couldn't remember her name, but she _did_ remember stinging her in the back so maybe this wasn't the best…

"Horde!" Oh yes, that was the archer kid. Who had just emerged on the other side of the clearing and immediately sank into a crouch as he nocked an arrow. An arrow that looked exactly like the one Catra had been about to stab Entrapta with back on the ship. The realisation hit Scorpia like a blow – she had been wondering why on Etheria Catra had been trying to stab Entrapta with an arrow instead of the knife she obviously had on her as well. This was why. Catra had wanted it to look like archer boy had done it. Clever.

The moment of shock was all the time it took for Adora and Princess Twinkle to enter the clearing as well, followed by that weird flying rainbow horse unicorn thing. Adora had already drawn her sword and had it pointed at Scorpia, but Princess Twinkle was the one who made the first move forward. From the short girl's glare, Scorpia guessed that she remembered being stung in the back too.

"What are _you_ doing…" The sparkle princess' words trailed off as her eyes suddenly went wide in shock. " _Entrapta_?!"

"What?" Archer boy's arrow shot off into the trees at a tangent as he released it in surprise. Beside him, Adora was staring at Scorpia with the same astonishment as Princess Twinkle. No, wait, it wasn't Scorpia she was looking at, it was Entrapta. Scorpia guessed that maybe they felt bad for abandoning her in the Fright Zone. They should.

Sparkle princess continued to stare for a few long moments, eyes moving from Entrapta to the blood streaked down Scorpia's arm and side. Then her face twisted into a snarl of rage that would have done Grizzlor proud as she jumped to entirely the wrong conclusion, and lunged at Scorpia with a furious shriek before anyone could react.

For an instant, Scorpia saw stars as the air around her ignited with blinding light. Then nothing.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Yes, like Shadow Weaver before her Scorpia did just get knocked the fuck out by Glimmer. It has not been Scorpia's day._

 _Also no I did not put Madame Razz in this so I could make callbacks to the original series. Mostly._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Adora was moving before Scorpia even hit the ground, darting forwards to snatch Entrapta from the Force Captain's claws. For a moment she half-expected that the still figure would be Catra in disguise, waiting to get close before attacking. But it was definitely the lost princess of Dryl – somehow. She would have to think about that later; there was no time now.

"This has to be a trick," Bow said from behind her, his voice cracking. "That can't be Entrapta; I saw… we _all_ saw! She was trapped in the last vent, and we saw the flames and… and… she _can't_ be-"

"She's alive," Adora interrupted him, two fingers pressed into the side of the smaller girl's throat.

"Oh gods…" Glimmer sounded sick. "We _left_ her there! Who knows what the Horde's been doing to her?"

Adora was barely listening. Gently turning Entrapta over, she sucked in her breath as she saw the bloodstain across the technician's back. That was bad. It could be faked of course, but the rasping wheeze of a lung injury and pallor of significant blood loss was harder to feign. "I need to get Entrapta back to Brightmoon right now; can you guys deal with Scorpia?" Looking at Entrapta's back again, Adora felt a twinge of doubt. Someone had made an attempt to dress the wound, and she didn't think it had been Entrapta. "I don't think she did this."

"Then who did?" Glimmer asked as Bow pinioned Scorpia's elbows and knees, lashing her tail to one of her ankles. He took a moment to look at his work, then pulled another length of cord from his quiver and started reinforcing the bindings.

"I don't know, but be careful," Adora warned as she lifted Entrapta carefully. "I'll come back with help after I get Entrapta to Brightmoon. Stay put for now, but if anything seems odd then get out of here and leave Scorpia behind." She couldn't shake off the feeling that this was somehow a trap - maybe Entrapta was the bait. Maybe Scorpia was too, or maybe she was part of it. She had been working with Catra before, at Salineas, at the prom, at the battle of Brightmoon…

Adora shook her head with an irritated grunt – she was wasting time. If it was a trap, she would just have to hope that Bow and Glimmer could handle it. Glimmer had handled Scorpia easily enough after all. The quicker she got to Brightmoon, the quicker she could get back here and maybe get some answers. She was still trying to banish her doubts as she approached Swift Wind with Entrapta in her arms – but as she got close the alicorn half-reared, ears pinned back in agitation.

"Woah, uhhh, I would really prefer it if you didn't bring her any closer," Swift Wind said nervously, cream hide twitching as he took a step backwards, forelegs splayed. "The blood is totally freaking me out and I kind of want to kick something, bite something or run. Maybe not in that order. I can't help it," he added ruefully as Adora glared at him. "It's like, a primal thing. Smell of blood means bad things with sharp teeth so keep away."

"Swifty, _please_ ," Adora didn't know much about horses beyond the fact that they were awesome, but she definitely recognised genuine fear when she saw it so she pushed her frustration down into the same dark place she put most of her conflicting emotions. "Entrapta's badly hurt and if we don't get her to Brightmoon quickly she might die."

Swift Wind looked from Adora to Entrapta, then took a deep breath and shuddered. "Okay, okay, you're right. It's one of those stupid instincts, not a good one. Put her on." Stretching his wings out, the alicorn braced himself as if waiting for an immense weight to be placed on his back. "Okay Swift Wind," he muttered to himself. "This is just like that stupid sheet of paper that was blowing around the courtyard. It's spooky but it can't hurt you." He tensed as Adora gently placed Entrapta down across his withers just behind his wings and made a small, high-pitched noise as he felt sticky, half-clotted blood begin to soak into his pelt. But he didn't immediately throw her off.

Swinging herself up onto Swift Wind's back, Adora placed a steadying hand on Entrapta's back then looked back at her friends. Bow was still adding to Scorpia's bonds but from his grim expression it was obvious that his mind was elsewhere – and elsewhere was unpleasant. Glimmer was still staring at Entrapta, twisting the end of her cloak in both hands. Her gaze met Adora's briefly, and it was obvious that their thoughts were running along similar tracks. For all their talk of unity, they'd abandoned Entrapta to the Horde's non-existent mercy.

Almost involuntarily, Adora drove her heels into Swift Wind's flanks. Rather than protest, the alicorn shot into the air as if he'd been fired from a cannon – or more accurately, as if he was trying to get away from the smell of blood. He circled once to get his bearings, flinched as blood dripped from Entrapta's shirt on to his shoulder, and headed for Brightmoon with a powerful thrust of his wings.

Normally the rush of the wind through her hair and the sight of Etheria rolling out to the horizon beneath her would have filled Adora with exhilaration. This time she was numb to both of those things as she looked down at the friend she'd never thought she'd see again, her imagination working overtime as she tried to figure out what had happened to Entrapta in the months since they'd lost her in the Fright Zone. Besides the wound to her back, the princess didn't seem to have any other injuries, or look like she'd been locked in a cell and tortured. Then again, Shadow Weaver's brand of torture rarely left physical marks, unless the sorceress wanted to leave them.

And how had Entrapta managed to get from the Fright Zone to the middle of the Whispering Woods? Had she escaped? Had Scorpia been trying to recapture her? If Entrapta had escaped, why had she gone to the Whispering Woods instead of Dryl? The more Adora thought about it, the less it seemed to make sense – until she remembered the First Ones temple, the one Light Hope had called the Crystal Castle. Catra had been there – she knew it was a First Ones relic. Had Catra also found out how much Entrapta knew about First Ones technology and taken her there to investigate it, either willingly or under duress? Catra also knew about the Crystal Castle's defences – that might explain Scorpia's presence as extra muscle, but not Catra's absence…

 _"Unauthorised presence detected. Security protocol activated."_

A shiver ran down Adora's spine at the memory of an unsympathetic robotic voice as blue lights turned ominous red. The creatures that defended the Crystal Castle did so mindlessly, with no concept of mercy or self-preservation. Maybe that was what had wounded Entrapta, and Catra had told Scorpia to carry her to safety. Meaning Catra could still be in there. For an instant, Adora's fingers twitched with the urge to seize Swift Wind's mane and order him to turn around and head for the temple. But she had to get Entrapta to Brightmoon first – and besides, Catra had already managed to escape the Crystal Castle without her help. Adora had no doubt that she could do it again. Well, not much doubt, but…

 _"You must let go."_

…the most important thing right now was to help Entrapta. Adora owed her that much at the very least for leaving her behind. It would be easy to blame that decision on the others – Bow, Perfuma, Mermista and Sea Hawk had all believed Entrapta was dead. But Adora had been the leader. If she had ordered them to turn the skiff around to go back and search for their lost friend, they would have done it. Or Adora could have gone herself and let them take Glimmer back to Brightmoon. Instead she had just accepted that Entrapta was dead without even seeing a body – even basic cadet training in the Fright Zone insisted that you always confirmed a kill before moving on. Sure, that was intended for opponents, but it still made sense. Then a shudder beneath her hand brought Adora back to the present with a start as Entrapta stirred, coughing hoarsely.

"Entrapta?" Leaning over as far as she could without toppling both of them from Swift Wind's back, Adora reached out to turn the smaller girl's head towards her. Entrapta's eyes were open, but gazed at her blankly for several seconds before slowly focusing on her.

"…ngh… 'Dora?" The technician's voice almost seemed to bubble in her throat, making her gasp for breath. "Haaaaa… you thought… I died?"

"Yes!" Adora's voice hitched as she replied. "Entrapta, I'm so sorry! We would never have left you if we'd known you were still alive, we thought you were killed in the vent system, you were in there when it was purged!"

Entrapta's head had fallen back against Swift Wind's shoulder, the feathers of his wings brushing against her hair as they rose and fell. She didn't seem to have registered Adora's response; instead the technician was looking down towards the ground far below them with a complete lack of anything resembling fear or concern. "Horses… don't fly," she rasped, sounding almost offended. "Aerodynamics 'r all wrong…"

"Excuse me?" Swift Wind's whinny was indignant. " _This_ horse flies, thank you very much. And my aerodynamics are none of your business!"

"…flying horse also talks," Entrapta mumbled to herself before Adora could interject. "Neat." A lock of hair that had avoided being gummed with blood detached itself from one ponytail and made some odd, abortive gestures as if it was trying to manipulate something that wasn't there. Entrapta lifted her head to stare at it, frowning. "…where's my… never mind." She slumped back down again, her breath wheezing in her chest. "Dropped it… when Catra stabbed me," the technician grunted, her voice muffled by Swift Wind's hide.

At those words, Adora felt as if she'd swallowed a jagged block of ice the size of an apple which somehow seemed to both lodge in her throat and sink down into her stomach. "What?" she almost whispered, her eyes wide with horror as she reached down to raise the princess' head again. "Entrapta, did Catra do this to you?"

"…yes…" Entrapta's head jerked in what might have been a nod. "Dunno why… 'cept Hordak wants me dead, yay." After those words Entrapta seemed to realise something and made an effort to lift herself with her hair, looking around hazily. "…where's Scorpia?"

"Scorpia's fine," Although Adora knew that Glimmer definitely had a grudge against the Force Captain, she also knew from personal experience that neither she nor Bow would intentionally mistreat a prisoner. "Was she part of this too?"

Entrapta had gone limp once more, but managed to shake her head. "Saved me… back on the ship," she murmured, her voice barely audible now. "From Catra. Fought… fought her so…" Whatever else the technician might have said was cut off by a racking cough.

Adora breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the spires of Brightmoon piercing the sky ahead of them and Swift Wind started to spiral gracefully down towards the rebel camp around the city. "Swifty, can you land us at the-"

"Healer's tent?" the alicorn finished for her. "We did already establish that I have coherent thought, right? I mean, the blood is still freaking me out and all, but I'm not stupid."

"You're right, sorry Swifty." Adora apologised. Entrapta had fallen silent, but she could still feel the princess' chest rising and falling in sharp jerks beneath her hand. The inhabitants of the encampment had grown used to the sight of Swift Wind now, as well as Adora herself, and didn't pay them much attention as he landed by the large tent that the healers used as a field hospital. But then several of them noticed Entrapta as Adora carefully lifted her down from Swift Wind's back. Ignoring the murmurs that were already spreading like ripples in a pond, Adora carried Entrapta into the tent before anyone could interrupt with questions.

The tent was largely empty now – all of the injured from the battle for Brightmoon had recovered enough to return to their duties or homes, the patients here now had been injured by sparring mishaps or run-ins with Horde patrols. Adora laid Entrapta down gently on the nearest bed as a deerfolk healer hurried over, her eyes wide.

"Is that…" she began, but Adora cut her off.

"Princess Entrapta, yes. We thought she was dead but we were wrong. She's been stabbed in the back," Adora couldn't help flinching slightly at those words, the claw scars on her back prickling. Of course Catra stabbed her in the back. "I'm pretty sure she has a punctured lung and she's lost a lot of blood." Adora could see other healers heading over, and took a step backwards. Regardless of how she felt about leaving Entrapta – again – there was nothing else she could do for her now.

 _"One of the Sword of Protection's many intended functions is to heal and restore balance."_

Adora's jaw tightened in frustration at the memory of her last visit to the Crystal Castle. Maybe there was something She-Ra could do for Entrapta, but to find out how to do it she'd have to spend years with Light Hope first. And that was pointless when Entrapta needed help now.

"You need to save her," The words caught in Adora's throat, threatening to turn into a sob. _We didn't._ Taking another step backwards, she collided with an armoured shape behind her and turned to see General Orithia in the tent's entrance.

"They're saying you brought back Princess Entrapta," the tall woman said, her scarred face disbelieving. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the princess' distinctive hair. "Stars above, you did!" Orithia turned her gaze to Adora, clearly expecting an explanation, so with one last look at Entrapta she motioned for the general to follow her outside.

Although part of Adora wanted to stay close to the healer's tent so she could hear what was happening inside, she knew that would be a bad idea. Especially with Bow and Glimmer still waiting with Scorpia in the Whispering Woods and Catra… well, she could be anywhere. Including lurking in the bushes where Bow and Glimmer were waiting… Adora pushed that mental image to the back of her mind – she had to focus on the present, not what-ifs, and Orithia was still waiting for an explanation.

"Bow, Glimmer and I went to investigate a report of a Horde ship that crashed in the Badlands by the border of the Whispering Woods," Adora began, unconsciously drawing herself to her full height to stand at attention while delivering her report. Old habits died hard. "We decided to approach through the woods rather than fly directly there in case it was a trap, but before we reached the border we ran into Force Captain Scorpia, who was carrying Princess Entrapta. Glimmer subdued Scorpia but I had to leave them to guard her while I brought Entrapta back here – she's badly injured."

Orithia nodded in acknowledgement, apparently not finding any fault with that logic. "You might need help to bring Scorpia back here, I'll get Asteria." That was the name of the minotaur woman who had nearly crushed Adora against a barricade when she'd first come to Brightmoon – she would definitely be a match for Scorpia.

"Great, I'll lead you there on Swift Wind," But as she spoke, Adora realised that Swift Wind had disappeared. "I'll lead you there on Swift Wind after I find him," she amended with a sigh. "I'll be right back." With an automatic salute, Adora quickly headed off. From the distant sound of splashing and agitated equine snorts, she could guess where the alicorn had gone. Hopefully nobody would object to him using the reflecting pools to wash the blood from his hide…

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Orithia and Asteria are not original characters - I've just given names to two unnamed characters. Orithia is the woman with the scar across her face who yells "HORDE!" at Adora in the third episode - she's only credited as 'General'. My wonderful beta reader/editor/co-writer Rinney suggested the name Orithia for her after her favourite character in the new Assassin's Creed. Asteria is the large minotaur woman who chases Adora in the same episode - it's also worth mentioning that we see a figure with similar horns among the series of holograms Light Hope creates when talking about the princesses. I'm assuming that the minotaur lady in Brightmoon isn't a princess - but then again, who knows?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

When Scorpia came to, her first groggy thoughts were that she probably shouldn't tell Catra about that dream. Normally she would have excitedly told Catra about any dream she'd had with her in it – or pretty much any other dream she still remembered when she woke up – but 'I dreamed you tried to murder Entrapta because Hordak told you to, isn't that hilarious?' wasn't something Scorpia wanted to dwell on. Not like the one where she and Catra had been riding in a chariot pulled by a giant seahorse, throwing rocks at the Salineas Sea Gate while the creature had kept up a constant and annoying musical burble. That had been a fun dream, like the one where Catra had turned into a giant purple kitty and Scorpia had made friends with a pink lion. Murder dreams, on the other hand, were a lot less fun.

It was only when Scorpia tried to stretch and discovered she was bound claw, foot and tail that she realised – with a horrible, sinking dread – that she hadn't been dreaming.

Cracking one eye open, all Scorpia could see above her were mossy tree branches and dense leaves. She was still in the Whispering Woods. Surreptitiously lifting her head, Scorpia took in her surroundings with a quick glance before returning to her previous position and closing her eyes again. Adora and the rainbow horse were gone; so was Entrapta. Hopefully that meant Adora was taking the injured princess straight to Brightmoon. Princess Twinkle and archer boy were still here, seated a short distance from Scorpia with their backs to her. Obviously they were not used to taking prisoners then – Scorpia was pretty sure that if she struggled hard enough she would be able to break her bonds and make her escape before they could stop her…

…to what end? Returning to the Fright Zone was out of the question. Going back to her family's kingdom in the Crimson Waste? While that was tempting, it would only be a matter of time before Hordak found out. Scorpia did not want to bring the Horde's wrath down on Scorpion Hill. She might be able to hide out at Tomb Rock like she had when she was a kid and didn't want to go to princess events with her mom and dads, but she was a lot bigger now, and wouldn't fit in most of her old hiding places.

Besides, Scorpia reminded herself, if she ran off to the Crimson Waste then she would have no idea what happened to Entrapta. While she could certainly hope that the technician had survived, Scorpia knew she'd still lost a lot of blood in addition to suffering a punctured lung. A significant amount of it had soaked into Scorpia's uniform after all – the saturated fabric and leather clung to her skin. She could tell herself that of course the healers at Brightmoon would save her friend, Entrapta was a princess after all, but that didn't mean they actually could. Or would.

Maybe running off to Tomb Rock wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"…doesn't change anything, we still left her!" Princess Twinkle's voice broke through Scorpia's increasingly morbid thoughts as it rose to an anguished yelp. "We left her for dead, and we never even considered that she might still be alive!" She was obviously talking about Entrapta, so Scorpia decided to eavesdrop. It was better than mentally chewing over her own situation after all.

"It's not your fault," archer boy replied. If anything he sounded even more distraught. "You weren't even there Glimmer." Oh yes, that was sparkle princess' name. "It's not on you or Adora, it was the rest of us that decided Entrapta was dead. I mean, we told you guys she was dead, not that we just thought she was dead. Maybe if we'd said that instead you and Adora would have made us go back to check and we'd have found her!"

Given that there hadn't been a mark on Entrapta when Catra had found her in the vents, Scorpia had to wonder exactly why they'd been so sure she was dead. Entrapta certainly hadn't mentioned anything about a traumatic near-death experience. Catra had said that it was probably because the rebels cared more about Glimmer and Bow than they did about Entrapta, and after a long, painful silence the technician had wrapped both arms and hair around herself and admitted that was probably an accurate analysis. But if that was true, why were they so upset about leaving her behind?

"Would we?" Scorpia could hear the self-loathing in Glimmer's voice. "Or would we have decided it was more important to get me back to Brightmoon than it was to find Entrapta?"

There was a long silence after that. Scorpia heard muffled sobs, but couldn't tell whether it was the princess or archer boy that was crying. Maybe both? It wasn't the reaction she'd expected. She'd thought that maybe the Rebellion would be glad to have Entrapta back, that they'd probably feel some guilt at leaving her in the Fright Zone, but she had never expected this level of distress and self-castigation. It really did seem like they had thought the technician was dead and instead of being happy to have her back they were agonising over leaving her behind in the first place.

"What do we even tell her?" Glimmer said eventually, her voice sounding raw and hoarse. "'Sorry we left you for dead, hope the Horde hasn't been torturing you'? Or 'we would have checked that you were definitely dead but we decided not to bother'? We don't even know what awful things the Horde has been doing to her!"

Scorpia took some offence at that statement – the Horde had done nothing of the sort! Okay, so they'd kept Entrapta in a cell at first but that was hardly… oh, wait, Catra had stabbed her in the back. The realisation made Scorpia admit that maybe Glimmer had a point. Possibly more than one, given what Shadow Weaver had done to the princess of Brightmoon. It was pretty lucky that the sorceress hadn't discovered that Entrapta was Catra's prisoner until Hordak had decided that Entrapta was useful to the Horde.

"We tell her the truth." It sounded like archer boy had been crying too. "We owe her that much at least. We thought she was dead so we didn't go back for her."

"And if she can't forgive us for that then, well, we can't really blame her," Glimmer sighed, the sound hitching into a low sob. "If… if she's okay that is."

"Don't even say that!" Archer boy's voice had jumped an entire octave, but it was fear rather than anger that Scorpia heard. "Adora will have gotten her back to Brightmoon by now, the healers will save her. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked."

Well, Scorpia certainly hoped that too. She was no medic after all. For several moments she wondered whether she should tell Glimmer and archer boy that yes, Entrapta thought she had been abandoned and yes, she had been upset about that. But if they had a really good reason that they'd thought she was dead, Scorpia thought Entrapta would understand. And to be honest, Scorpia was curious about what had made them think the technician was dead – she was pretty convinced now that the rebels would never have left Entrapta behind if they'd had any doubts about whether she'd survived.

Before Scorpia could decide whether to speak up or not, she sensed rather than felt a rhythmic thrumming through the earth. Approaching hoofbeats… and three sets of them? Did Adora have a horse with six legs as well as one with wings and a horn? Wings were limbs after all, so maybe six legs weren't that far-fetched. Though one set seemed distinctly heavier than the other two.

Princess Glimmer and archer boy didn't notice the hoofbeats until they became audible a few seconds later, then Scorpia heard them get to their feet. She remained motionless, pretending that she was still out cold. Best to see what the rebels' intentions were before making any attempt to escape. If they weren't going to execute her right away – which was a distinct possibility given her involvement in Glimmer's abduction – maybe she'd get to find out how Entrapta was doing.

"Adora!" Glimmer's cry confirmed that the former Force Captain had returned, and Scorpia felt feet hit the ground as someone presumably dismounted. "Is Entrapta okay?"

"I left her with the healers," was the evasive response. "Did anything happen while I was gone?"

"No, it's just been us and Scorpia," the princess replied. "No sign of the Horde at all."

"Princess," an unfamiliar voice greeted Glimmer as Scorpia heard a second set of footsteps enter the clearing – and the faint jingle of well-oiled armour. The heavier set of hooves accompanied them – obviously not part of the same animal Adora had been riding. Scorpia risked opening one eye by the merest slit to get a look at the newcomers. She couldn't see them very well from her position on the ground, but immediately recognised General Orithia from Force Captain orientation. Her companion was an enormous minotaur woman that Scorpia definitely didn't know. Neither of them appeared to be carrying an executioner's axe, so at least that was something.

Footsteps approached Scorpia, then a boot poked her shoulder. "I know you're faking," Adora's voice said above her. "You're too stiff to still be unconscious."

Scorpia opened her eyes to see the blonde girl standing over her, arms folded across her chest. Something in the way Adora was looking at her was unsettling – it wasn't rage or hate, it actually looked like doubt. That was strange. "Okay, you got me," Scorpia admitted, swinging herself up into a sitting position with a powerful flex of her upper body and shoulders. She grimaced as the movement tugged painfully on her immobilised tail, but she knew there was no use asking her captors to loosen the bindings on it. They weren't that dumb.

Behind Adora, Glimmer and archer boy were staring at Scorpia in surprise – clearly they'd believed she was still out. Within seconds, however, the princess' eyes had narrowed into a glare. Glimmer was definitely still holding a grudge, even after clocking her one. General Orithia was also glowering at her, but given the images Scorpia had seen of the Brightmoon commander, that was her default expression. The minotaur woman on the other hand was almost smirking – though Scorpia recognised that look as 'go on, just try something'. She'd worn that expression herself often enough, and knew that it meant she'd be in a world of hurt if she made any sudden moves.

"Tell us what you're doing here, and what happened to Entrapta," Adora stated – it was a command, not a question. Shadow Weaver would have been proud. But something seemed to flicker in the blonde girl's eyes as she spoke, and Scorpia had the uneasy feeling that she already knew the answer somehow. And didn't like it.

For a moment Scorpia refused to answer on principle – this was the enemy after all. Then she remembered that she wasn't exactly on the Horde's side any more. Certainly not if she wanted to keep Entrapta alive anyway. "There's a First Ones temple in the Whispering Woods," she replied grudgingly. "We were headed there in a raiding ship."

"The Crystal Castle?" Adora asked. Scorpia had no idea what that meant, and shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe? Catra had been there before; she was pretty messed up when she came back," Scorpia explained. Again, she saw Adora's expression shift – the former Force Captain obviously knew something about that too. Had she been there with Catra? Had it been her fault Catra got hurt? Somehow, after everything that had happened today, Scorpia couldn't bring herself to care. "Catra said she wanted to take Entrapta to investigate it since Entrapta is good with First Ones tech. She wanted me to stay behind but…" Scorpia's words trailed off as her eyes widened in horrified realisation. If she'd stayed in the Fright Zone like Catra had wanted, Entrapta would probably be dead. Either Catra would have come back and told her that the rebels had killed the technician – and Scorpia knew she'd have believed her – or she'd have brought Entrapta's corpse back with a rebel arrow sticking out of her.

"But what?" Adora pressed, her voice edged with impatience… and dread. Looking at the blonde girl, Scorpia's knew her earlier suspicion had been correct – Adora knew exactly what had happened to Entrapta. And she wanted Scorpia to prove her wrong.

"But I insisted on going with them," Scorpia told her, feeling an odd surge of empathy towards the former Force Captain. "And Catra tried to kill Entrapta just as we reached the woods," she continued, more gently than she'd intended. Adora wasn't the only one who wished there was a different explanation. "She stabbed her in the back, and she would have killed her if I hadn't gotten involved." Scorpia heard gasps from Glimmer and archer boy, but her gaze was fixed on Adora… who suddenly looked away.

"You're saying that Catra just randomly decided to kill Entrapta?" the blonde girl asked, doing her best to conceal the quiver in her voice. "How do you know it wasn't self defence?"

"Self defence?" Archer boy interrupted before Scorpia could reply, his voice incredulous. "Adora, have you lost your mind? Who stabs someone in the back in self defence?"

"You weren't there, Bow!" Adora snapped back at him defensively. "You don't know how it happened!" Archer boy's name was Bow? Seriously? Scorpia knew that her own name was pretty on-the-nose, but she'd been named after the scorpion-shaped shadow on the third moon. Not the weapon she favoured – then she'd have been called Claws or Sting.

"I have to agree with your friend," Adora whipped around to glare at Scorpia as she went on. "Stabbing someone in the back is kinda… not that defensive. And Catra sent me back to the stern of the ship when we got close to the woods. She said it was because she was expecting an attack from the rear but now I think she wanted me out of the way."

"You don't know that," Adora almost snarled, though Scorpia could hear the desperation in her voice. It was then that she remembered that before her defection, Adora and Catra had been close. Very close, if the rumours Lani continued to spread were true. Suddenly Adora's reaction made a lot more sense.

"Well, here's what I do know then," Scorpia began. Sure, she felt bad for Adora and all, but she wasn't about to let her try and justify what Catra did. "I was at the stern, I heard Entrapta scream, and by the time I got to the prow Catra had Entrapta pinned down. She'd already stabbed her, and was about to stick an arrow in the wound. One of his," Scorpia added with a nod towards Bow. "My guess would be that she wanted it to look like he was responsible. I'll be honest – that would have fooled me."

Behind Adora, Glimmer had covered her mouth in shock and Bow's eyes were wide and horrified. Adora was trying to look impassive but was not doing nearly as good a job as General Orithia as her face twitched, eyes dropping to stare at the forest floor. "Then what?" she asked flatly.

"I pulled her off Entrapta and asked her what the hell she was doing," Scorpia replied. "Catra told me that she was following orders – Lord Hordak decided that Entrapta's no use to the Horde any more, so he ordered Catra to kill her so she wouldn't go back to the Rebellion."

"Wait, Entrapta's been working for the Horde?" Glimmer moved to stand by Adora as she spoke, her voice disbelieving.

"Given that you left her for dead in the Fright Zone, what the hell were you expecting?" Scorpia answered. It was somewhat satisfying to watch the princess, Adora and Bow all flinch simultaneously at her words.

"We-" It sounded like Glimmer was about to launch a furious denial, but all at once the little princess' fire seemed to go out as her shoulders slumped. "…is that what Entrapta thinks?" she asked instead. Scorpia was about to respond with 'wouldn't you?' but Adora spoke first.

"That's not important right now," the blonde girl stated. "So, Catra tried to kill Entrapta under Lord Hordak's orders. Why didn't you let her?"

If she hadn't known that the minotaur woman was waiting for an excuse to trample her into the leaf litter, Scorpia might have pushed herself to her feet just so she could headbutt the former Force Captain in the face. "Because Entrapta is my friend," she growled through her teeth. "And that's more important than Hordak's orders. I told Catra we could have let Entrapta go instead, but Catra insisted that we had to kill her. So I broke her arm, kicked the asses of the squad she brought along, stung all of them, then disabled the ship and bailed with Entrapta."

"How did you get this far through the Whispering Woods?" This time it was Bow who spoke – and for once the question wasn't accusatory. He sounded genuinely curious. "I mean, you're on foot and it's not like it can be mapped."

"I had help," Scorpia admitted. "I ran into this weird old lady who said she could show me the way, along with a bunch of other crazy stuff. She said her name was-"

"Madame Razz." Adora finished for her. The name didn't seem to mean anything to Bow and Glimmer, but Scorpia could see that some of Adora's hostility had faded. The blonde girl glanced at her companions with a look that clearly said 'I'll explain later', then turned back to Scorpia. "We're taking you back to Brightmoon. Maybe you saved Entrapta, but you're still a Horde officer. Are you going to come quietly or does Asteria have to carry you?" Obviously that was the minotaur woman's name, emphasised by the fact that she cracked her knuckles as it was spoken.

"If I come quietly, can I see Entrapta?" While Scorpia would have loved to have a square go with Asteria, she knew there was no way the rebels would untie her first.

"Only if the healers are okay with that," Adora replied, sharing an uncertain look with Glimmer. "They might not be too happy about a Horde captain being in their tent, even if you're a prisoner."

"Fine," Scorpia sighed. "You'll at least tell me how she is, right?"

"Right now we don't know how she is," Adora said, echoing Scorpia's sigh. "But once we get back, I'll tell you. I promise."

Scorpia supposed that was the best she could expect for now. That, and the lack of summary execution. Slowly rising to her feet, she held out her bound claws in front of herself. "Lead the way then. Though I'd appreciate you cutting my legs free unless you really want to carry me…"

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Happy New Year everyone! While this isn't going to be a Catradora story as such, that relationship certainly has an influence on how Adora is reacting right now..._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Scorpia kept absolutely still, aware of the nervous looks she was getting even though her claws and tail were manacled. Even if her tail had been free it would have been drooping listlessly behind her as she looked down at her friend. Like the other patients in the tent Entrapta lay in a camp bed, but unlike them she was propped up into a semi-sitting position with pillows even though she was unconscious. Scorpia guessed that had something to do with clearing her lungs… like the metal tube jutting from the side of her ribcage that made an eerie hissing sound as the princess breathed. Entrapta's only movement was the ragged hitch of her chest. Even her hair was motionless, and that sight was more off-putting than everything else. Scorpia had never seen it so lifeless. Not even when she'd caught Entrapta asleep over her work, limbs and locks still fidgeting. Scorpia's bound claws itched to pick out the braid the other princess' hair had been woven into by the healers after they had washed it - maybe it would stir when released from its own bindings.

"…you kinda forget how small she is without the hair," Scorpia said quietly.

"I know," Adora replied. Stealing a glance at the former Force Captain, Scorpia could see the guilt there. Which was kind of weird given that Adora wasn't the one who'd just stuck a knife in Entrapta's back. "The healers said she's weak but stable, for now. As long as there's no infection. The wound isn't large because the knife had a thin blade, but it was twisted in her back…"Adora's breath caught in her throat momentarily as she seemed to shudder. "…which made the internal damage worse. Her lung was punctured, but luckily no major blood vessels or she'd have been dead in minutes." The blonde girl's gaze met Scorpia's briefly, and something in her eyes seemed almost apologetic. "They also said she'd have died if it had taken much longer to get her back here. The blood loss was still bad, but more likely the air being pulled into her chest cavity would have collapsed her lungs and she'd have suffocated. You saved her life."

Scorpia shrugged, the movement making the chains she was bound with jingle. "Entrapta's my friend. She'd have done the same for me. Or Emily." For some reason the mention of the robot made Adora flinch, and somewhere behind her she heard Bow shift his weight uncomfortably. That was odd.

The walk back to Brightmoon had been uneventful; mostly by Scorpia's choice. General Orithia led the way with Scorpia behind her, closely followed by Asteria. Every now and again the minotaur woman's hooves clicked against a stone, making Scorpia's tail tug painfully in its bonds as it reflexively tried to pull into a defensive arch. Adora and her friends had been further behind. Scorpia had heard them talking quietly, but she hadn't been able to hear what they were saying. From the occasional muffled sob she guessed it was Entrapta they were talking about.

Once they'd reached the rebel camp outside Brightmoon, Scorpia had been taken to a blacksmith's tent where her ropes had been replaced with heavy chains instead. The heavyset woman who ran the forge had glared at her, but thankfully her hammer hadn't 'accidentally' slipped as she had riveted thick steel gyves around Scorpia's wrists, ankles, and neck. Rivets were a bad sign – both permanent and difficult to remove without taking limbs off in the process. The shackles had then been fastened together with a single loop of chain and a heavy padlock. The shackles were heavy – nearly eighty pounds of hardened steel – but it was the chain that hampered her movement. Scorpia could walk, but only with her arms crossed over her chest. Or she could move her arms – but only with her legs pressed together. Her tail hadn't been forgotten either – a metal hood had been locked around her sting, then attached to the shackles on her ankles with a separate, shorter length of chain. At least that was less uncomfortable than having it bound against her leg, though it still jerked against its bonds every time it reflexively tried to arch.

General Orithia had left to report to Queen Angella once Scorpia was securely chained. After an urgent, whispered conversation with Adora and Bow, Glimmer had disappeared in a flash of sparkling light. Scorpia wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. Following another hushed discussion, Bow quickly headed off into the maze of tents and left Scorpia with Adora and Asteria. The minotaur woman was lurking at Scorpia's back, clearly still hoping for a fight. Given the looks she'd been getting from the camp guards and most of the inhabitants Scorpia knew that Asteria wasn't the only one. Besides naked aggression the only other looks she'd gotten had been ones of fear.

But to Asteria's obvious disappointment Scorpia made no move to either resist or escape. After a couple of minutes Bow returned looking distressed. As it turned out, that had nothing to do with Scorpia – he'd been to check on Entrapta, who was still unconscious. But the healers had grudgingly allowed Scorpia to enter the tent as long as she was securely restrained and guarded. Scorpia had willingly promised Adora - on pain of sudden tail amputation – that she would do nothing to make her regret it.

Scorpia had kept her word. Sure, right now she really, _really_ wanted to hit something, but the something in question was probably back in the Fright Zone by now, reporting back to Hordak. At least Scorpia had the satisfaction of knowing that Catra was probably in for a bad time once the Horde leader found out that she'd failed in her assassination attempt. Even now, that thought was followed by a twinge of concern – did this mean that Shadow Weaver would be back in favour, or would Catra be put in the cell next to the old witch while Hordak picked another lieutenant? Well, whatever happened now it was no longer Scorpia's concern. There was only one use for a Horde deserter after all – as a salutary lesson in what happened to Horde deserters. It was certainly an educational lesson for troopers, but invariably fatal for the subject. The only deserter Scorpia knew of that had survived for more than a week was Adora. She was a special case though because Shadow Weaver had wanted her back so badly. Scorpia was certain that she wouldn't be shown the same mercy.

The brooding silence lasted for several minutes until it was eventually broken by Bow. "So… how did Entrapta survive?" he asked hesitantly. "The first time I mean," he added quickly.

"What first time?" Scorpia replied, bewildered. "And survive what?"

"She wasn't injured when you found her in the Fright Zone?" Adora asked, sharing a glance with Bow that looked as confused as Scorpia felt.

"No, she was absolutely fine," Scorpia told them, wondering why they thought Entrapta had been injured. It would have made more sense – shameful though it might have been - to leave the technician behind if she had been hurt and would have slowed them down. "When Catra found her hiding in the vents, there wasn't a scratch on her." Given the disbelieving looks she was getting from Adora and Bow, Scorpia decided to elaborate. "Entrapta told us she'd been hiding in the vents for nearly two days. She thought you guys were going to come back for her but, well, you didn't."

"We didn't know!" Bow's voice rose into an anguished wail that was quickly stifled as heads turned towards him across the tent. "We thought she was dead!" he continued, sounding as if he was about to cry.

Adora went to his side and placed a comforting hand on the archer's shoulder, though from the look on her face Scorpia suspected she was close to tears as well. "Did she tell you anything else?" the former Force Captain asked, making an obvious effort to keep her voice even. "She never mentioned escaping from one of the purge chambers?"

Scorpia blinked, wondering why the subject had suddenly switched to the purge chambers. She knew what those were of course – the tunnel systems running from the vehicle bays to the main fortress. They were designed to both remove any organic contaminants on returning vessels and keep out intruders using a cauterising flame jet that would destroy either of those things in seconds, with varying levels of mess. Given that Entrapta wasn't covered in hideous burn scars Scorpia wasn't sure why Adora and Bow thought Entrapta had escaped from there. "No, why?" she replied eventually. "I'm pretty sure she wasn't even singed."

There was silence for a few seconds, then Bow shook his head. "That's not possible," he muttered, then grimaced as he seemed to relive a particularly painful memory. "We saw the vent close Adora!" He almost seemed to have forgotten Scorpia's presence as he continued, a pleading note creeping into his voice as he spoke to Adora. "Me, Mermista, Perfuma and Sea Hawk, we all saw it close! Entrapta ran back in there, the doors closed, and then we saw nothing but green fire!"

"And you definitely didn't hear anything?" Adora's question wasn't accusing, but Bow flinched all the same.

"I swear we didn't Adora. The doors sealed after we saw the flames," he replied. "We couldn't get them open again – Perfuma tried to pry them apart with vines but the seal was too tight, she couldn't get anything underneath to lift them." Scorpia turned back to Entrapta as Bow's words became a sob, shifting her weight awkwardly in secondhand embarrassment as she tried not to listen.

The technician was still motionless, her face pale and drawn. It was a jarring contrast to the Entrapta Scorpia had first met in the Fright Zone - bright and excitable and absolutely impossible to contain. And Scorpia had tried, she really had, but after the third time she'd turned around to see that Entrapta had let herself out of her restraints, Scorpia had given up and settled for just keeping the princess in the cell instead. At least that hadn't been hard – Entrapta had been absorbed in tinkering with Emily and hadn't made any attempt to leave. And she had listened to Scorpia's stories about the adventures she'd had with Catra without protest – at the time Scorpia had wondered if Entrapta was actually paying attention to her or doing the 'tuning out' thing like Catra. But when Scorpia had asked the technician if she'd already told her the boat story, Entrapta had known what she was talking about right away and had even played back one of her recordings to check. It was at that point that Scorpia had decided that she'd made another best friend, and if the rebels hadn't left Entrapta behind then it never would have happened…

…and Entrapta wouldn't be lying here because she would never have been stabbed in the back. Sure, Scorpia would never have had the chance to make friends with her, but Entrapta wouldn't have gotten betrayed by people she trusted twice over.

"…pia? Scorpia!" It took a few moments for Scorpia to realise that Adora was speaking to her, and she looked around to see that Bow had dried his eyes but both he and Adora had the same look of haunted guilt. Briefly, she wondered if Catra felt as guilty about stabbing Entrapta in the back as Adora and Bow did about leaving her in the Fright Zone. Somehow, she doubted that.

"Sorry, wasn't listening," Scorpia said apologetically. "Look, if Entrapta really was stuck in one of the purge chambers then I honestly have no idea how she survived. Because she shouldn't have. But she's the only person who could tell you how she managed it."

"What about that robot she had with her?" Adora asked. "Did it have any damage?"

"Emily? Not that I saw," Scorpia replied, with a shake of her head that made her chains jingle. "But Entrapta could easily have fixed her up in the time before we found her. If Emily was damaged then Entrapta would have repaired her right away because she loves that robot…" Scorpia's face fell as a sudden realisation struck her. "…oh man, Entrapta is going to be so upset that she left Emily in the Fright Zone. It seemed like a good idea at the time." _Especially where Catra was concerned_ , Scorpia acknowledged silently. Emily would probably have opened fire the moment that Catra made her attack.

"Why was it a good-" Before Adora could finish the question, Glimmer appeared beside her in a burst of sparkles. Whatever the Brightmoon princess had been up to, it didn't look like she'd enjoyed it at all, her expression tense and apprehensive.

"That did not go well," Glimmer said before anyone else could speak. "My mom's on her way with Orithia and I have never, ever seen her this angry. _Ever_."

"She's angry that Entrapta's alive?" Bow looked bemused. "Why would Queen Angella be angry about that?"

"It's not about Entrapta!" Glimmer snapped. "It's about _her_!" she added, waving at Scorpia.

"I have a name you know," Scorpia muttered, trying to conceal her own anxiety. She knew exactly why Angella was furious – the thought had lurked at the back of her mind from the moment she'd decided to take Entrapta to Brightmoon. But that was the choice she'd made, and she didn't regret it. Not much anyway.

From the look on Adora's face, it was clear that the former Force Captain also knew the reason behind Angella's anger. "It's about kidnapping you, isn't it?" she asked grimly. "How much did you tell her about what happened at Princess Prom?"

"Everything!" Glimmer groaned as she clapped both hands to the sides of her head and dragged them down to cradle her chin between splayed fingers. "The heat bombs. Stealing your sword. Hurting Bow. And worst of all, stinging me in the back of the neck. She is, like, ninety nine percent of the reason I got captured and handed to Shadow Weaver. And that's why my mom wants her head." The princess clutched at her own in emphasis. "And I mean literally!"

Well, that was pretty much exactly what Scorpia had expected. But from the look that passed between Adora and Bow it appeared that both of them were shocked by what Glimmer had said.

"Your mom wouldn't really execute a prisoner, right?" Bow asked nervously. "I mean… she's Queen Angella, 'angel' is right in her name."

"My mom's never had a prisoner that's guilty of high treason against both the royal family and Etheria in general!" Seeing that Bow was about to object, Glimmer quickly forestalled him. "An attack on the All Princess Ball is considered high treason against Etheria itself," she explained. "Violence is bad enough, but attempting to destroy the venue? High treason."

Scorpia had forgotten that part, which was certainly correct. It had been over a decade since her mother had given her lessons on Etherian law – lessons which had come to an abrupt end after the treacherous attack which had crippled Queen Leiura and led to Scorpia's induction into the Horde – but an attack on the Princess Prom was tantamount to declaring war on every other kingdom in Etheria. Maybe the heat bombs had been a bad idea.

"Maybe we could-" Whatever Adora was going to suggest was interrupted by the tent flap being roughly pulled aside as General Orithia entered with a squad of armed guards behind her.

"Queen Angella wants to see the prisoner," the Brightmoon commander stated, her scarred face grim. "Now." As she spoke, four of the guards behind her spread out and circled around Scorpia with spears at the ready, points aimed squarely at her center mass.

Knowing that there was no point in resisting, Scorpia slowly lowered her arms to her sides to slacken her chains enough to walk and shuffled forwards awkwardly. She glanced back at Entrapta as she was led out of the tent and wondered if she would ever see the technician again. But as the door flap fell closed behind them, Scorpia steeled herself for whatever fate Queen Angella had planned for her.

Outside, people had already started to gather. Orithia led Scorpia through the growing crowd, which closed behind the guards tailing her like a muttering sea with sunlight glinting on angry eyes. The rebel encampment was just as orderly as a Horde camp would have been – tents set out in clearly defined rows with wide pathways between them. But up ahead was a large open space, and Scorpia guessed that was where they were heading. She had not thought that a square for public executions was something Brightmoon would have; according to her superiors in the Horde the Rebellion preferred to dispose of dissenters and defectors discreetly.

As it turned out, they might have been right. The pathway between the tents opened out into a large rectangle the size of the Fright Zone's mess hall. As it was almost completely empty, Scorpia could see the squares marked out on the ground and the racks of blunt practice weapons beside them. It was a training field, with no sign of a headsman's block anywhere. The edges of the field were lined with people – they couldn't all be rebel soldiers because some were too old and many of them were children. But only one person stood within the field itself – Queen Angella was waiting in the centre of the open space, with the setting sun at her back and an expression colder than the Kingdom of Snows.

The queen of Brightmoon watched impassively as Scorpia was brought before her, as motionless as a marble sculpture. Glimmer had said that her mother was furious, but if she was then Angella was hiding it well. At first all that Scorpia could see in the queen's face was disdain, but as she got closer she saw hatred glittering in Angella's lavender eyes, cold and hard as ice. Without prompting, Scorpia dropped to her knees and bowed her head as Orithia moved to stand at attention by Angella's shoulder. Sure, it might not help her at this point, but at least it was polite.

"Princess Scorpia of the Crimson Waste." If anything, Angella's voice was even colder than her expression as it rang out across the field. "I have been told that you have returned the Princess Entrapta to us. Perhaps you think I should be grateful enough to overlook your crimes." Angella paused, and Scorpia heard the spectators murmuring to each other, wondering what the queen was going to say next. "I am not. You are guilty – not accused, but _guilty_ – of abducting my daughter, attacking the Salineas Sea Gate and leading an assault on Brightmoon itself. Perhaps you might say those were acts of war, but you are also guilty of an attack on the All Princess Ball – against Etherian tradition, all laws of hospitality and on neutral ground. Do you have anything to say in your defence?"

Briefly, Scorpia wondered if 'it was all Catra's idea!' would fly. Probably not. Lifting her head, she met Angella's glare. "You're right, I'm guilty of all those things," she admitted calmly. Far too late to turn back now. "I don't deny it. I did all of those things in service to the Horde." The murmuring from the crowd took a distinctly aggressive turn at that – Scorpia heard multiple voices mutter the words 'condemned' and 'execute'. "But now I'm a deserter," she went on. "If I go back now, they'll kill me. At least if you guys do it, it'll be quick."

Angella's eyes narrowed, clearly wondering whether Scorpia was mocking her. Then her gaze shifted to one side as Adora finally managed to push her way through the crowd and ran onto the field to stand beside Scorpia with a respectful bow.

"Your majesty," Adora began breathlessly. "Please, can we discuss this before you pronounce judgement? I know Scorpia's guilty of everything you said," she added, with a glance towards the Force Captain that showed there were certainly hard feelings there too. "But… we can't learn anything from her if we execute her now. We should at least wait until we can get more information from Princess Entrapta when she wakes up."

Queen Angella's baleful stare had moved from Scorpia to Adora, and for several moments her expression didn't change. But Adora stayed where she was rather than back away, looking back at Angella imploringly. Briefly, something seemed to soften in the queen's eyes, only to harden again as her gaze returned to Scorpia. "Very well, Commander Adora. Guards, remove the prisoner from my sight at once and have her locked in the dungeons. The deeper the better."

As she was herded away at spearpoint, Scorpia hoped that her cell at least had a cot. Or even a pile of straw or something. After everything that had happened today, she could really use a nap.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _It has really, really not been Scorpia's day. Queen Leiura is not a canon character, that's just the name I've used for Scorpia's mom who may or may not have any further relevance to this story._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The Horde ship was long gone by the time Adora found the crash site, the bright dawn sunlight revealing nothing but a deep furrow that had been ploughed into the Badlands. Adora wasn't surprised - Scorpia had said that she'd only disabled the ship. Presumably once her venom had worn off, Catra or the troopers with her had managed to get it skyworthy again. As Swift Wind circled downwards towards the ground, Adora could see the faint track of the ship's repulsor jets traced across the dusty soil – once it had been airborne it had been turned in a wide semicircle. The ship's trail led straight back towards the Fright Zone… but that didn't mean Catra had been on it.

Sliding off Swift Wind's back as the alicorn landed, Adora circled the crash site slowly, looking for tracks. Scorpia's were plain enough – large, deep prints leading towards the Whispering Woods in a jagged, zig-zagging line. The tracks Adora was looking for would be smaller and lighter… and there was no sign of them. Maybe Catra had gone back to the Fright Zone after all, but it wasn't like her to give up so easily – she must have known that Entrapta was still alive. _Maybe she regretted what she'd done?_ As much as Adora wanted to believe that, she doubted it was true. She was just about to make a second, wider circle around the area when Swift Wind called her.

"Adora? I think I found something." The alicorn was standing by Scorpia's tracks, head down so that he could snuff at them like a hound. "The scent's gone," he explained as Adora came over to join him. "But look at the footprints."

At first, all Adora could see was the clear sole-print of standard-issue Horde boots, right down to the familiar insignia in the heel. This must have been where Scorpia had landed after jumping from the ship. But as Adora looked closer, she realised something was odd – the heel mark was clear, but the toe was blurred, as if that part of the sole had worn away… or someone else had stepped on that part of the print. Someone who carried all their weight on their toes.

Wordlessly following Scorpia's trail, Adora saw that the next print was the same – clear heel, blurred toe. So was the next one, and the next. And then on the fifth print Adora saw claw marks within the toe. Catra had obviously been following Scorpia's trail by stepping in each of her footprints, leaving little trace of her own. Scorpia's prints were spaced too widely for Adora to do the same – Scorpia had a longer stride and had been sprinting at top speed – but it would have been easy for Catra to jump from one footprint to the next.

Rather than follow the erratic path Scorpia had taken, Adora headed straight for the point where the trail reached the Whispering Woods. Swift Wind followed, occasionally shying as they crossed a dark splotch of dried blood. But once at the woods, the trail abruptly ended in dense undergrowth. Frowning, Adora pushed her way through and into the woods proper. Given Scorpia's size and the speed she'd been travelling at, Adora would have expected her to have torn a path through any plants or shrubs in her way. Crouching to look more closely at a bush that would have been directly in front of Scorpia as she entered the woods, Adora started as she saw that it _was_ damaged… but the broken branches were almost totally concealed by a thick cover of new growth. Although large areas of the Whispering Woods were still in ruins where Horde vehicles had smashed their way through frozen trees and torn massive gouges in the soil, the areas that hadn't been as badly affected by the cold were as fertile and active as ever. If Adora wanted to follow the trail any further, she would have to rely on finding footprints – and that was much harder on the forest floor than it was on the bare earth of the Badlands.

Sighing, Adora got back to her feet and looked around herself for any clues to which direction Scorpia had taken. She already knew it would be no good trying to track Catra – who would probably have taken to the trees the moment she got into the forest… though hadn't Scorpia said that she'd broken one of Catra's arms? Despite everything, Adora still felt a sharp twist of concern at the thought. Catra would have a hard time finding someone to set her arm in the Whispering Woods.

"So… what now?" Swift Wind's voice behind her made Adora jump to her feet – she'd forgotten that the alicorn was there.

"I don't know," Adora admitted, half to herself. "If Catra was following Scorpia then obviously she didn't catch up with them before we found her."

"Huh. I thought that we came out here to see if Scorpia's story about running from the ship with Entrapta panned out," Swift Wind commented, scratching behind one ear with a rear hoof. "We're looking for Catra now? In the unlikely event that we find her, what do we do with her?"

"I… don't know," Adora repeated with a sigh. "Ask her for her side of the story I guess."

"Oh, right." Swift Wind's whickering snort told her exactly what he thought of that idea. "I'm sure it was all a big misunderstanding."

Adora glared at him, but the alicorn gazed back at her with the same sceptical look he'd given her back in the Crystal Castle when she'd told him the best thing she could do was stay with Light Hope. "There has to be a reason she stabbed Entrapta," she said eventually. "I know Catra. She wouldn't do something like that, not without a good reason."

"Have you considered that maybe the reason is exactly what Scorpia said it was?" Swift Wind countered. "Hordak ordered Catra to kill Entrapta, so that's what she tried to do. That's the simplest answer after all, and those are usually the right ones."

"Yes, but…" There were several moments of awkward silence as Adora tried to think of a follow-up that made sense. "But I thought…"

 _"I know you're not a bad person Catra, you don't belong with the Horde!"_

Those words seemed to mock Adora now. She had believed them wholeheartedly at the time, and still clung to them even after Catra had hurled her sword into the chasm and left her hanging there. And later, while the antiseptic wash burned as the healers applied it to the deep slashes running down her back, Adora had told herself that what she'd said was still true – Catra was angry with her specifically and her actions stemmed from her feelings of betrayal. That didn't make her evil. But there was no way Adora could justify attempting to murder Entrapta. Not when it appeared that Entrapta had either been Catra's prisoner or ally.

"Hey, it's okay," Swift Wind's voice was gentle as the alicorn stepped forwards to put a wing around her. "I know you and Catra were friends, and that she means a lot to you. But at some point you have to accept that either she's changed, or maybe you didn't know her quite as well as you thought."

 _"I don't want to leave, what don't you understand about that? I'm not afraid of Shadow Weaver any more, and I'm a better Force Captain than you would have ever been!"_

 _"You always said you didn't care about things like that."_

 _"Well I was lying, obviously!"_

Despite the warm feathers around her, the memory still made Adora shiver as she remembered the hate she'd seen in Catra's eyes even through her tears. She'd never known Catra felt that way, so maybe Swift Wind was right. If Catra really was the better Force Captain that she'd claimed to be, then of course she'd have done exactly as Hordak ordered. Especially if she considered Entrapta as no more than a tool to be used then discarded. Maybe Catra had given up on friends after Adora had abandoned her – and could she blame her for that?

"You're right," Adora sighed eventually, leaning against Swift Wind's warm flank. "I just… I just feel like maybe it's-"

"If you finish that sentence with 'my fault', then I will kick you right in the head," the alicorn interrupted, stamping one forehoof for emphasis. "You are not to blame for Catra's terrible decisions. If Hordak had ordered you to murder someone in cold blood, what would you have done?"

There was another pause as Adora considered that, then laughed humourlessly. "I'd probably have defected a lot sooner," she admitted. "I guess Catra was right when she said she made a better Force Captain than I would have been."

"Well, good for her," Swift Wind replied. "Come on, we should head back to check on your friend. And also make sure the queen hasn't chopped Scorpia's head off yet."

"Don't joke about that!" Adora gasped, swinging herself up onto the alicorn's back. The action had gotten a lot easier with practice, and a lot less undignified for both of them. Trotting back out into the Badlands where there was no forest canopy to break through, Swift Wind launched himself back into the sky, turning in a semicircle that mirrored the one the Horde ship had left, and headed back towards Brightmoon.

oOo

Despite the looming threat of imminent execution, Scorpia actually felt a lot better. She'd been allowed to wash before being given fresh clothes, not prisoner fatigues since Brightmoon didn't appear to have those, just a sleeveless tunic and leggings. Then she'd been taken to the dungeons, which were carved out of the mountain beneath the palace itself and actually had windows. Sure, the window was a narrow slit that Scorpia couldn't even fit a claw through, but it still let in light and fresh air. And the cot was actually more comfortable than the cadet bunks back in the Fright Zone, so she'd gotten a good night's sleep. A guard had brought her food the next morning – well after Scorpia's internal alarm had woken her up for morning duties in the Fright Zone that she no longer had to worry about – and that had been better than standard Fright Zone rations too. Fresh bread, tea and a bowl of thick oatmeal with dried fruit. Apparently prisoners in Bright Moon ate better than lower-ranking Horde soldiers.

Then again, from what Scorpia had seen there didn't seem to be that many prisoners to begin with. When she'd been marched down to the cells, all of the ones she'd passed had been open. The cell she'd been locked in was at the very end of the corridor, and once the heavy wooden door had closed behind her the only sounds Scorpia had been able to hear were the ones that drifted in through the window. She was standing by that window now, looking out onto the shallow waters that surrounded the peaks that the castle and city had been built on. Scorpia couldn't quite see the Moonstone from this angle, but she could see its light glimmering on the gentle waves.

Large bodies of water weren't something Scorpia had been familiar with before the Horde. When she'd looked out her window as a child, most of what she'd seen had been glittering sand and wind-faceted stone. That was why she'd loved going to sea so much – there was something strangely peaceful and comforting in the endless undulation of the tides.

Earlier, more out of habit than anything else, Scorpia had looked about herself to analyse how easy it would be to break out of the cell. Obviously the window was out of the question, so she'd checked the door instead. There was a shuttered grille at eye level which she could probably pry apart given time, but like the window her claw couldn't fit through even if the entire grille was removed. And the wood itself was dense and strong – ironwood probably – and gouging at it with the tips of her claws had only scraped it. No, her best bet would be to try and overpower the guards when they opened the door. There was always the possibility of breaking the cot apart to fashion some makeshift weapons, but Scorpia discarded that idea almost immediately – even in chains her claws were better weapons than a couple of lengths of wood. Besides, then she would have to sleep on the floor.

In any case, it wasn't like she was planning to escape anyway. Scorpia had already come to terms with her fate, and to be fair to Queen Angella it wasn't like she was innocent of any of the crimes she'd been accused of. And if Adora got her way, at least Scorpia would know that Entrapta was okay before she was executed. Though that thought did have some troubling implications – what would happen to the princess of Dryl if and when the Rebellion found out that she'd been working for the Horde? Scorpia decided that she'd have to make sure that both Adora and Angella believed that Entrapta had been under duress, and hope that the technician didn't contradict that story herself.

A knock at the door snapped Scorpia from her reverie as she turned to face it, expecting the shutter to snap open to reveal a masked guard. It didn't – instead the knock was repeated, as if the person behind the door was waiting for her to open it. They'd be waiting for some time then.

"Uhhhh… hello?" Scorpia called eventually. "I'd get the door, but the bolts are on your side."

Finally, the shutter over the grille slid open to reveal Adora's face. "Sorry," the former Force Captain apologised. "I didn't want to just open this thing in case that was rude. Like going into someone's bedroom without being invited, that's rude here."

"Well this isn't really a bedroom and I don't think that would apply to prisoners anyway," Scorpia replied. "Or maybe it does, who knows in Brightmoon. Did Entrapta wake up?"

"Not yet, Bow's with her though," Adora told her. "He'll come and get me once she does. The healers said she isn't any worse though."

"Good." There was a long, awkward pause which Scorpia finally broke once she could no longer stand it. "So… is this an interrogation?"

"No, I just…" Adora's words broke off into a deep sigh as she leaned her head against the grille. "I just wanted to talk?" she offered lamely.

Scorpia shrugged, leaning back against the wall. "Weird, but okay then," she replied. Scorpia was going to comment that chatting with prisoners wasn't really something people did in the Fright Zone, but then she remembered she had done exactly that with Entrapta while she was still ostensibly Catra's prisoner. Maybe it wasn't that weird after all.

"Look, I don't want to see you get executed," Adora explained. "It's not right, not after you saved Entrapta. I know you're loyal to the Horde – well, at least you were – but if there's anything you can tell Angella that could help the Rebellion, that could save your life. I know how you feel," Adora added. "Like you're betraying everything you believe in. But after what happened to Entrapta, do you still care?"

 _"I know how you feel," Catra said, blue and yellow eyes wide in what might have been genuine sincerity as Entrapta's blood dripped slowly from her right hand. "Like there's something cold clawing at your guts. Like you're the biggest piece of shit in Etheria."_

"…it's not that simple," Scorpia replied eventually. "I think it's safe to say that I'm not in the Horde any more but I don't know if I can just turn around and help the Rebellion after everything they did."

"I'm pretty sure they weren't responsible for whatever you were told they did," Adora said, her voice gentle. "I grew up hearing about Rebellion atrocities just like you did, and now I know that those stories were either not telling the whole truth, or outright lies." She hesitated for a moment, then met Scorpia's gaze as she went on. "Shadow Weaver told me what happened to your mom at the parley before the first battle of Brightmoon. That the Rebellion attacked the Horde representatives and your mom even though she was just there to mediate. Is that really what happened though? Was it Shadow Weaver who told you that?"

"No," Scorpia's eyes dropped to the floor as she replied, her voice catching. "Shadow Weaver never told me that. My mom did. Shadow Weaver took me to see her after the attack." _Her eyes glossy with tears; claw shaking in Scorpia's grip as the child tried not to look at the blackened, necrotic gouge across her mother's lower back where her tail had once been._ "So I know that part's true."

"Oh." There was no disguising the disappointment in Adora's voice, but Scorpia couldn't bring herself to resent her for it. It wasn't like Shadow Weaver was known for being truthful after all, and Scorpia knew – from observation anyway – how much the witch had messed with Catra's head. "I'm sorry; I didn't think that was something the Rebellion would do… I guess the Horde had to be right about something, huh?" Adora added with a dull chuckle.

"Hey, it's not like Queen Angella was there." Bizarrely, Scorpia felt the need to comfort her erstwhile comrade.

"So she might not have known?" From the way Adora's eyes brightened, it was clear she was latching on to that slim hope.

"Ehhhhh…" Scorpia hesitated, then moved over to stand on the other side of the door. From her limited line of sight through the grille she couldn't spot any guards, but she dropped her voice to a whisper all the same. "Look, it wasn't just any Rebellion soldiers behind the attack. My mom told me it was King Micah himself. And he was also the one who injured her."

"King Micah?" Adora repeated, blue eyes wide in shock.

"Not so loud!" Scorpia hissed. "If Queen Angella knew I'd told you that, she'd have my head off right now. She's always denied it; she said it was the vilest slander and that it was the Horde who attacked at the parley. But that's not what my mom told me." Seeing the conflict and anguish in Adora's expression, Scorpia wavered for a few moments as she struggled with her own doubts, then spoke again. "I guess it's possible that Angella didn't know about it," she admitted grudgingly. "I mean, she has always denied it so furiously – I don't know if she could fake that kind of outrage? But it still happened. I don't care about betraying the Horde after what happened, but helping the Rebellion still feels like betraying my mom."

"I can understand that," Adora sighed. "But do you think your mom would rather have you alive and helping the Rebellion, or executed?"

"That… is a good question," Scorpia replied. "Do you think Queen Angella would let me write to her?"

"As long as she was sure you weren't trying to send any intel back to the Horde then I think she…" Adora didn't finish the sentence – she was interrupted by the sound of running footsteps.

"Adora!" Bow's voice echoed along the corridor, sending a momentary chill along Scorpia's spine before she realised he sounded happy rather than worried. As Adora stepped back from the cell door, Scorpia pressed her face to the grille to get a better view of the hallway. She caught sight of the archer as he neared her cell, then stopped to get his breath back, leaning on the wall with one arm. "Entrapta's awake – not really with it, but awake."

Adora's expression showed the same relief that Scorpia felt as she looked back towards the cell. "I have to go; I'll come back later to let you know how Entrapta's doing." Without waiting for a response, the blonde girl set off along the corridor at a jog. Bow made a small sound of protest, then pushed himself away from the wall and followed her at a considerably slower pace.

As their footsteps faded to silence, Scorpia realised that Adora had left the shutter over the grille open. Given that it meant she could hear sounds from the hallway more clearly, she didn't really mind.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Entrapta's first groggy thoughts were that everything hurt. But, upon consideration, that was a terribly vague and generalised assessment. Her chest hurt – sharp pain see-sawing through her ribs as she breathed along with a dull ache at her back. Breathing hurt. It felt like her lungs were coated with a coarse abrasive and grinding against the inside of her chest cavity. Biologically unsound maybe, but an accurate summary of the sensation. There was a dull ache in the right side of her chest – as if she'd fallen asleep on top of a screwdriver or some other hard object. Almost without thinking she reached down to move it before recoiling as pain burst across her right shoulder like a blown fuse. That wasn't from falling asleep on a tool, that was from…

 _…Entrapta screamed as sharp talons sank deep into her shoulder, her eyes wide with pain and shock while Catra's were narrowed slits of cyan and gold, her fangs bared in a snarl that seemed both furious and desperate. Something gleamed in Entrapta's peripheral vision and she looked away from the person she'd thought to be her friend to see a needle-pointed arrowhead streaking towards her left eye…_

Reflexively flinching away, Entrapta's breath caught in a hoarse gasp as the movement sent a sear of pain through her chest. Biting back a cry, she instinctively went still instead as she came back to full consciousness, playing possum while she analysed her situation. Her mask was gone – Entrapta could feel that her face was exposed so opening her eyes might not be the best idea if she wanted to keep pretending she was unconscious. Worse still, she couldn't move her hair. Well, she could, but it had been woven into a tight, dense braid that made any sort of manipulation impossible. If it had been purposely immobilized then that did not bode well. Her arms and legs appeared to be free though – she couldn't feel any restraints on them. Odd.

Well, she was definitely still alive – Entrapta was quite sure that if this was some kind of afterlife then she wouldn't need to breathe. So that meant… Scorpia had gotten her off the ship? Her memory was fuzzy, but Entrapta was sure that if Catra had caught up with them, she wouldn't have woken up at all. Unless Catra was waiting for her to open her eyes before stabbing an arrow into one of them. Entrapta managed to stop herself from flinching again, but couldn't prevent the fearful whine that hissed through her gritted teeth.

"Entrapta?" The voice made her recoil automatically before recognition dawned. Cautiously opening her eyes, wincing as the dim light stabbed at her retinas, Entrapta relaxed as the first thing she saw was a familiar figure standing over her – and not in chains as a Horde captive.

"Bow?" Entrapta's voice was a rusty croak that sounded strange even to her. Bow didn't seem to care, his face lighting up in a glad smile as his eyes filled with tears in that strange happy/sad dichotomy that Entrapta had never been able to understand. Looking away awkwardly, Entrapta could now see that she was lying in a bed inside a large tent, propped up into a semi-upright position by pillows. Given that there were no Horde insignias or uniforms in sight, she guessed she was in a Rebellion camp – maybe even Brightmoon itself. And there was no sign of Scorpia.

 _"I'm not going to hurt you." Scorpia's voice was gentle and reassuring – although she'd reached her claw into Entrapta's hiding place, she made no attempt to grab her and simply held it out invitingly. "Plus, I just broke Catra's arm and I'm pretty sure assaulting a superior officer counts as high treason, so I would really like to get out of here fast." The searing throb in Entrapta's back was a warning that perhaps Scorpia shouldn't be trusted – she was Horde after all, like Catra, and the Horde wanted her dead. But if Scorpia wanted her dead, it would be easy for that claw to reach out and snap Entrapta's neck like a piece of chalk. And it didn't, so despite her misgivings Entrapta hesitantly reached out to take hold of it._

A light touch on her uninjured shoulder made Entrapta jump and shrink away, wincing as the movement sent a sharp stab of pain through her chest. Bow's smile had gone; instead he was looking at her with concern, one hand stretched out towards her.

"Can you hear me?" he asked anxiously. Obviously Bow must have been talking while Entrapta's thoughts were elsewhere. His expression cleared as she nodded in response, though his eyes were still deeply anxious. "We thought you were dead," Bow said, his voice quivering. For a moment Entrapta was confused – had Bow thought she was dead when she didn't respond to him, despite the fact that she was clearly still breathing? And why was he referring to himself as 'we'? Then she remembered Catra saying that the Rebellion thought she was dead – and a very hazy memory of Adora confirming that while the two of them had been riding on a flying horse. Though it was entirely possible the latter had been a hallucination, especially since the horse had been able to talk.

"Why?" The word came out as a pained grunt, but Entrapta's grimace was more at the vagueness of the question. Specifically she wanted to know at what point the other princesses had decided on that, their reasons for doing so and why they hadn't made sure. But while that query was easy enough to string together in her head, Entrapta wasn't sure if she could put it into intelligible words in her current state.

"You were trapped in the purge chambers," Bow began, as if he thought the answer was obvious. "We saw the doors close and then the flames… how did you even survive that?"

 _That_ was why they'd thought she was dead? Entrapta felt mildly insulted, but at least she could see the reasoning there. Taking a deep breath, she began to explain – or at least intended to – but the pain and tightness in her chest cut her description down to a single word. "Dodged." Well, at least it was reasonably precise.

From the look on his face, Bow certainly didn't seem to think so. "You… dodged a room full of fire?" he asked doubtfully. He would have continued, but a flicker of movement on her other side made Entrapta start, her braided hair thumping uselessly against the bed as she tried to raise it in defence.

Thankfully the person approaching her appeared to be a deerfolk healer who lifted her reassuringly clawless hands in a peaceful gesture as she came closer. "Princess Entrapta," the healer said with a respectful bow. "I'm glad you're awake. I will need to assess your condition, is that all right?"

Entrapta didn't like the sound of that, but if the healer had meant her harm then it was unlikely she'd have woken up at all. At least Bow was here and Entrapta felt sure she could still trust him. Eighty six point five percent sure anyway. But as she looked back towards him, Bow was already moving away.

"I'll be right back," he said in response to Entrapta's look of horror, clearly not understanding the reason behind it. "I promised Adora I'd tell her when you woke up." With that he was gone, leaving Entrapta alone with the healer who hopefully had no harmful intentions. As her hair writhed and flopped like a fish out of water, Entrapta reflected that there wasn't a lot she could do about it if they did.

oOo

By the time Adora reached the tent – having left Bow well behind – Entrapta was almost drowsing. The deerfolk healer, Fian, had examined her breathing, asking Entrapta to take deep breaths (which had hurt) and cough (which had hurt even more) while she auscultated her chest. Then Fian had examined the source of the dull ache in the side of Entrapta's ribcage – much to her fascination a metal tube had been inserted between her seventh and eighth ribs. Fian had explained that it was there to drain both air and blood from her chest cavity. Entrapta had already guessed that Catra's attack had punctured her lung – she had a decent grasp of anatomy and had plenty of time to think about it while she'd been hiding in the engine room of the ship – but she hadn't known how such an injury would be treated until now.

However, after Fian had given her a small cup of something chalky and bitter to drink – which Entrapta had swallowed without objection because the healer had been kind enough to explain the function of a chest tube to her – she'd found it increasingly difficult to focus. Fian had said something about changing the dressing on her back once 'it' had taken effect and Entrapta couldn't think of any reason to object. For a few moments she struggled to make an attempt to ask Fian to unbraid her hair, then decided that wasn't really important after all as her head sank back into the pillows behind her.

"Entrapta!" Suddenly Adora was standing beside her bed, a development that would have made Entrapta jump earlier. Now those fears were muted and instead all she felt was a vague gladness to see the blonde girl.

"Hey," Entrapta replied with a bleary smile. "S'good to see you."

Adora made a sound that was half a chuckle and half a sob at that, smiling tearfully just as Bow had done. Was it something in the water here? "It's good to see you too Entrapta. We all thought you were dead – I'm so sorry we never came back for you."

Entrapta gave a one-sided shrug in response. "S'okay – thought you left me 'cause I wasn't 'portant. Didn't know you thought I died. Makes sense now."

"We should still have come back to check," Adora protested, brushing her tears away with angry swipes of her knuckles. "I should have told the others to go back. It's not like any of us saw your body, we just assumed you'd died in the last purge chamber. How did you escape?"

That question again. If anything Entrapta had even less energy to explain the answer now, but she tried anyway. "Inefficient design… flame jets badly placed. Easier to draw you a diagram," she added with a frustrated wave of her left hand. "Got a pencil?"

"It can wait," Adora replied. "The important thing is that you're alive, and you're back with us. I… I don't know what the Horde did to you, but whatever they made you do, it wasn't your fault."

Entrapta wasn't sure how to respond to that. The Horde hadn't really done anything to her – well, not until very recently anyway. They hadn't really made her do anything either, they'd just let her pursue her research into First Ones technology and given her the means to do so. And despite the comfortable haze her mind had sunk into, there was a tiny part of her brain that suggested it might not be the best time to bring that up. It was the same part that had advised her not to ask about Scorpia in case the other princess had left her on the Rebellion's proverbial doorstep and ran before she could be captured. Best not to draw attention to Scorpia's presence in the area in case the Rebellion weren't aware of her already.

Yes, that was definitely the best idea.

oOo

Adora couldn't help tensing as Entrapta's head dropped forwards on to her chest in case something was wrong, but Fian was already on her way back over and didn't seem to be alarmed. Adora was familiar with the healer's tent after several sparring injuries – not always her own – and trusted the deerfolk woman without question.

"Is she all right?" Adora asked anxiously as Fian carefully moved Entrapta on to her left side and unwrapped the bandages from her chest.

"Yes, I think she's out of danger," the healer replied calmly. "I gave her a strong analgesic so she's going to be drowsy for a while. I didn't want her trying to move while I cleaned the wound."

Adora's jaw tightened as Fian carefully removed the dressing from Entrapta's back to reveal the narrow, bloody slit below the technician's shoulder blade. _Catra did that._ "Is it infected? It looks swollen," she commented, eyeing the red marks at either end of the wound nervously.

"I don't think so," Fian told her, leaning forward to sniff at the injury and then touching the puffy flesh beside it lightly. "It's not too warm and there's no smell of infection. The swelling is mostly where the knife hilt hit her ribs," the healer continued, indicating the marks that Adora had already noticed. "It's just bruising – there must have been a lot of force behind the blow for the hilt to leave an imprint like that."

Adora's only response was a noncommittal grunt as her gaze dropped to the floor. In every encounter she'd had with Catra since leaving the Horde, she'd never even considered trying to take her prisoner. Maybe she should have.

 _"I know you're not a bad person Catra, you don't belong with the Horde!"_

Adora had meant those words at the time, but now they left a bitter taste in her mouth. Would a good person have plunged a knife into Entrapta's back hard and deep enough to leave bruises from the hilt? She already knew the answer, but it was still difficult for her to acknowledge it. _What happens next time?_ Would she face off with her former friend once again only to watch her go running back to the Horde, or would she stop her so Catra could answer for what she'd done? Adora didn't know. And a small, traitorous part of her still hoped that Catra would be able to justify her actions.

A sudden burst of sparkling light snapped Adora out of her grim thoughts as Glimmer appeared beside her with Bow, one of his arms hooked about her neck.

"Bow told me Entrapta was awake," the smaller girl began excitedly, then her face fell as she saw Fian settling the technician's limp body back against the pillows as the healer finished her ministrations. "You said she was awake!" Glimmer said accusingly, turning to glare at Bow reproachfully.

"She was awake," Adora said quickly before they could start arguing. "Fian thinks she's going to be okay, right?" she added, looking at the healer.

"I would say so, yes," Fian replied as she collected the old dressings she'd removed. "She should be awake again in an hour or so, but she'll probably still be a bit fuzzy-headed. If she tries to get up, don't let her – she'll be disorientated so she'll probably just fall, which is something I'd rather avoid. And don't let her touch the chest tube – she was very interested in what it was for and I don't want her investigating it." With a respectful bow to Glimmer, Fian walked away to leave the three of them standing around Entrapta's bed.

"Did Entrapta say anything?" Glimmer asked tentatively, fiddling with her cloak once again. "She must hate us for leaving her in the Fright Zone."

"I don't think she does," Adora replied. "She said she thought we left her behind because she wasn't important – I know!" she added quickly before Glimmer or Bow could object. "That's not why we left her, we thought she was dead. Entrapta knows that now, she didn't know we thought she was dead. Now that she does, she said it made sense."

"Why would she think we thought she wasn't important?" Glimmer almost wailed. "She's our friend; of course she's important!"

"We don't know what happened to her in the Fright Zone yet," Adora pointed out. "Or what she was told while she was a prisoner – if Shadow Weaver got hold of her then no wonder she thinks we left her behind on purpose. Shadow Weaver's good at encouraging that kind of thinking."

Glimmer's face twisted into a surprisingly ferocious snarl at the mention of the dark sorceress. Clearly she was remembering her own time as Shadow Weaver's prisoner. "Good point," Glimmer growled, her hands balling into fists. "I hate that witch. Especially after what she tried to do to you, Adora. Did Entrapta tell you how she survived the fire?"

"She told me she dodged," Bow put in uncertainly. "I don't see how that works, but Scorpia did say she wasn't hurt when they found her so…" He shrugged expressively, then looked at Adora in the hope that she'd have more to add.

"Entrapta said something about the purge chambers being inefficient," Adora continued, privately wondering exactly how one could dodge an incendiary device. "Apparently the flame jets were badly placed? She said it would be easier to explain with a diagram so hopefully she'll be able to do that later. Whatever she did, she doesn't seem to think it was a big deal."

"Well, I guess she must be used to traps," Bow mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I mean, her entire castle is a deathtrap that she designed because she thinks traps and mazes are fun. She must have seen a way to escape that none of us noticed."

"Speaking of 'us', we should really let Perfuma and Mermista know that Entrapta's alive," Glimmer pointed out. "Not to mention the rest of the alliance and Dryl." Her face twisted wryly at the mention of Entrapta's kingdom. "Do we even know what Dryl has been doing without her? Ugh, maybe we are terrible friends."

"The Dryl branch of the Etherian Maker's Guild has been running the kingdom since Princess Entrapta was lost." The sound of Queen Angella's voice behind them made all three of them jump. None of them had heard her enter the tent. "They've been providing the Rebellion with weaponry, armour and raw materials in accordance with the agreement that Princess Entrapta made with the Rebellion – with the three of you – before her loss." Angella nodded in acknowledgement of Adora and Bow's hurried bows, a faint smile of amusement crossing her face. "You really don't need to do that you know." Her gaze moved back to Entrapta, shadowed with concern. "I'd heard she was awake."

"She was," Adora replied, fighting the urge to straighten up and salute. "Fian thinks she's out of danger."

"That is wonderful news." There was genuine warmth in Angella's voice, the same kind that Adora had heard before, usually directed at Glimmer, but also Bow… and also herself. Hearing it always gave her a strange, almost hungry feeling – like there was a hole inside her that she'd never been aware of before. "I'll send word to Dryl right away. I'm, ah, not entirely sure how much Princess Entrapta was involved with the day to day running of her kingdom," Angella continued with diplomatic delicacy. "But I'm sure they'll be overjoyed to find out she's alive."

As the queen turned to leave Adora took a step forwards, sensing an opportunity to speak to her about Scorpia. "Your Majesty, could I please speak with you for a moment?" she asked, keeping her voice carefully neutral. Glimmer gave her a questioning look then twitched her eyes towards the tent flap as she tugged at Bow's arm - obviously wanting to know if they should leave. Adora shook her head in response – she was pretty sure she was going to need support for the next subject.

Queen Angella had stopped, but didn't turn around. "Is it about Princess Scorpia?" There was no trace of warmth in her voice now.

"Yes…" Adora replied uneasily. From the face Glimmer was pulling at her, she knew she had to tread carefully. "I… I just wanted to ask if she could be allowed to see Entrapta when she wakes up," she lied. Adora was astute enough to realise that arguing with Angella over Scorpia's fate was not something that she should attempt in the middle of the healer's tent – especially not where Entrapta could hear it or, worse yet, join in.

There was a long pause. Adora couldn't help but remember the chill of the Kingdom of Snows as Princess Frosta's ominous glare had bored into her. She wasn't sure if this was worse.

"Princess Scorpia is to remain in the dungeons for now." Angella's eventual response was cold and detached. "I will not have her wandering Brightmoon after what she did at the All Princess Ball."

"I…" Adora began, then sighed in defeat. "I understand," she conceded with a rueful glance towards Glimmer and Bow. _For now_.


End file.
